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The career of Auckland winger James Somerset hangs by a thread, or more particularly the delicate touch of a surgeon's knife, because of serious spinal damage.
The 22-year-old Blues player has suffered from back pain for some time now but it came to a head four weeks from the end of his initial Super 14 campaign. He was unable to train without pain and it literally became harder for him even to get out of bed in the morning.
Comprehensive tests showed significant damage to his lower vertebrae and discs and he was left with little choice but a potentially life-altering operation.
"I'm going to have to have an operation to fix my lumbar vertebrae and discs. Basically the operation will fuse the vertebrae together in my lumbar spine," he says.
Somerset had starred in age group rugby, had impressed Auckland coach Pat Lam last season and had just broken into the Blues.
"It is disappointing," he says. "I was really looking forward to the season ahead and was really happy with my season in the Super 14. Even though I hadn't had much game time, I felt I had developed quite a lot.
"At the same time, my health is the be-all and end-all. Without that there's not much else.
"That's the priority at the moment, so while it's disappointing, my quality of life has to be the focus."
Somerset has spoken to players who have been under the knife to have discs cleaned up but, as far as he knows, none has undergone such a comprehensive fusion procedure.
"It will be a similar operational procedure to what Dave Gibson had, except his was in his neck so there was far less weight going through that part of the spine."
If the operation is a walk into the unknown, then the aftermath is even less clear. Put simply, there is no guarantee Somerset will ever lace up his boots again.
"This operation is very much about giving me a back for the future," he says. "I definitely won't be playing NPC this year but once my health comes back... with the nature of this operation, who knows what will happen with it?
"There's so many unknowns about operating on the spine."
The tool of a professional sportsman's trade is his body. So often players refuse to contemplate a scenario where that tool is suddenly and irrevocably damaged.
Somerset has not only contemplated it, he's prepared to embrace that possibility.
For the past three years Somerset has studied science part-time at Auckland University, so he approaches the prospect of life without rugby as unfortunate, rather than devastating.
"One thing I've always wanted rugby to do is not dictate my life, but complement it. I've tried to live a relatively balanced lifestyle. While I would love to play rugby again I need to get my health right so in 10 years' time I can live a normal life.
"I'd love to play again, but if it doesn't come to be I will happily pursue other avenues."
