'I'm playing again after near death experience'

HENLEY Hawks forward Morgan Macrae has fulfilled his goal of playing again just seven months after nearly dying from a cardiac arrest.

- JON NEWCOMBE

The former Wales 7s international played in his first comeback game for the Hawks against Worthing at the start of the month, his arrival on the pitch greeted by loud cheers from the Dry Leas crowd, and has had two further runouts since, one for the 2nds and another for the 1sts against Barnes last weekend.

Macrae played in three different positions in that game, at six, eight and two, due to injuries and yellow cards, but having once had his passion for rugby taken away from him, the 22-year-old would happily play anywhere that was required.

“It was a pretty incredible moment,” he said about his comeback game. “I had all my family and friends cheering and having all the boys congratulating me when I came on made it an amazing occasion for me and rugby as a sport.

“It’s pretty surreal to be playing again.”

As reported in this publication back in November, Macrae suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of the night while in bed with his girlfriend Kitty Williams on 13 August. Williams used her CPR training to keep Macrae alive until paramedics arrived on the scene and rushed him to hospital.