Rugby: Surgery gamble paid off for Sean Maitland

Sean Maitland. Photo / Getty

Scotland's Kiwi winger Sean Maitland says he made the right gamble when choosing to undergo surgery on his injured shoulder after recovering enough to earn a spot in coach Vern Cotter's World Cup squad.

The 26-year-old endured a tough and uncertain recovery after sustaining the injury playing for the Glasgow Warriors against Bath in January.

He was unsure whether to risk letting the problem heal by itself but opted to go under the knife, in preparation for both the upcoming tournament and his post-World Cup arrival at new club London Irish.

"I had two options, either just rehab it and see if you make the World Cup or get surgery and it's sort of a race against time," said Maitland.

Radio Sport: Maitland on the Rugby World Cup

"But I chose surgery because I thought that was the right option, future-wise as well.

"I'm going to a new club after the World Cup and there were things to think about like medicals and if I failed my medical then I probably wouldn't have a job.

"But I managed to get there in time. It's been a tough, hard nine weeks grafting, rehabbing and trying to get my body right, but it's just an honour to represent Scotland in the World Cup."

Maitland revealed the injury came after he was crunched under the weight of several Bath defenders, including former South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL premiership winner Sam Burgess.

"It was the last minute of the game and it was to get us through the Champions Cup playoffs and big Sam Burgess came over the top," he said.

"He's a big lad and I tried to stretch out for the line and three guys landed on me and sort of jarred my shoulder and I just ripped one of the muscles in the shoulder.

"The tendon required surgery so the time frame is four to six months so I'm sitting around five months now so all good."

His recovery was prolonged by the fact his shoulder was already damaged, and the tedious and repetitive nature of limited exercises made for some dark and frustrating days.

"It feels like you're doing the same stuff every day. Some days it's tough, you're just like, is this going to get better?

"I had a few problems; I had a stiff shoulder as well. Usually with a normal shoulder you're just having to repair, whereas my whole shoulder froze up.

"So I had to constantly keep getting work from the physios and was just in constant pain.
"It's tough but you get through it ok and hit a point where you're actually making a bit of progress and that point came a few weeks ago where I started actually getting a bit of muscle back on and a bit stronger and it just took off from there."

Looking ahead to the tournament, Maitland is excited by Scotland's balanced draw that sees them in Pool B, alongside Japan, USA, Samoa and South Africa.

"I'm not going to lie, it's a good draw. Japan, they can play. Eddie Jones has got those guys playing some good footy and the USA team as well. We toured the USA last year and they've got some good players.

"If we can pull through those first two games and get the wins I think it sets us up nicely before playing South Africa and Samoa at St James Park which will be an awesome experience."