Miles Benjamin's days of hosting corporate events in a neck brace seem to be over.
The 25-year-old Leicester Tigers winger scored two memorable tries in his side's 41-32 win against Montpellier on Sunday.
They were his first scores for the club after 12 months out of the game with a neck injury that could have easily finished his career.
Having picked up the spinal problem playing in the A League in September 2012, Benjamin endured a long and worrying battle back to fitness that left him not only getting very well-known at Tigers' corporate events – but questioning whether it was all worth it.
"I have worked hard and waited a long time to play in a Heineken Cup at Welford Road," said Benjamin.
"That was the sort of game I had envisaged playing in when joining the club.
"I had five really good years at Worcester and I enjoyed them. But this is a different stage, playing in these pressure games in the Heineken Cup.
"I am relieved and excited to be out there and, although I have a little bit of a way to go on my match-fitness, I feel I am getting somewhere near where I want to be.
"There were times when I did think, quite seriously, that I wouldn't be able to get back (playing).
"People can tell you all the right things and you can do all the rehab, but when you have a set-back with your neck, and I had a couple, you do start to think, 'Is it worth it?'
"The neck is the area of your body you don't want to be getting injured and there were times I did question coming back.
"But I have had great support, at home with my family, friends, girlfriend and at the club. I am fortunate to be back out there.
"I had a lot of corporate stuff to do when I wasn't playing and some of it wasn't very glamorous when you are stuck in a neck brace.
"I had two-and-a-half months in the neck brace and then it turned out I needed an operation, so I had another two-and-a-half months after that."
With six starts now under his belt, Benjamin is likely to feature in the line-up on Sunday as Tigers head to France looking to put the final nail in Montpellier's European coffin.
With 73 points being scored over an 80-minute period last weekend, Benjamin is expecting more of the same at the Stade Yves du Manoir.
"I think it will be just the same," he said. "We didn't expect them to be quite as open.
"We expected that game-plan when we went there, so I am assuming it will be more of the same. It is nice to get the backs involved and I am looking forward to it."
