WELSH international Dan Lydiate picked up the man off the match award as he started his first game for over a year.

The Powys powerhouse put in a typically industrious 55 minutes as the Ospreys laboured to a 27-22 win over Italian opponents Zebra in Swansea on Sunday, March 6, picking up a fourth successive home victory in the United Rugby Championship.

Injury is nothing new to the Wales and British & Irish Lions flanker, from Abbeycwmhir, having recovered from a broken neck as a teenager to win 64 Wales caps. But the 34-year-old must have feared the worst when his return to the international fold in last season’s triumphant Six Nations-winning campaign ended after just 13 minutes during the first game against Ireland in Cardiff.

Forced from the field with ligament damage, a subsequent knee operation ruled him out of a tournament that Wales eventually went on to win, as well as ending any hopes he had of a Lions recall last summer.

“There’s potential for any injury to be the end of the road,” Lydiate said during a media appearance as part of the Guinness ‘Never Settle’ campaign to promote inclusion and diversity following his return off the bench in a 29-7 defeat to Leinster in the previous round of the championship in February.

“But one of the biggest injuries I had was when I was 19 and broke my neck. You try to compare every injury you have to how bad your worst one was.

“Don’t get me wrong: blowing out your knee isn’t ideal and it's a long road to recovery. But I still love doing what I do and rugby can be a short career. As long as my mind wants to do it, I’ll keep doing it.”

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It was feared the fans favourite’s most recent knock would see him announce his retirement – his return to Wayne Pivac’s squad a year ago was his first Wales call-up for two years – but Lydiate assured his 141,000 social media followers that he planned to return to rugby.

“My current thing is to just get back onto the field,” he added, talking to Wales Online.

“My contract is up at the end of the season, so I want to put my best foot forward to show what I can still do.

“I know what I’m capable of when I’ve had a couple of games under my belt, but that’s just my self-belief. I just have to show other people I’m still about.

“I believe what I do is different from what other back-rowers can do and that’s probably got me where I am in my career, because of what I’ve done in the past.

“It was a big step the other weekend (against Leinster), just getting through a game.

“I’m hoping that going forward I’ll be able to improve, get up to match speed and implement what I feel I can do to help the Ospreys as much as possible from a team perspective.”