Andy Onyeama-Christie wouldn’t be human if he didn’t wonder what he had done to deserve the wretched fortune that has been his lot these past couple of years.
The old adage that if he didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any at all, springs to mind where the Saracens and Scotland flanker is concerned.
There was the first broken arm, on 2 April 2023, the subsequent complications and three operations, costing him the chance of a place in Scotland’s World Cup squad.
Twelve months on, his star was in the ascendancy after a superb campaign with Saracens and a breakthrough Six Nations with Scotland, featuring in four matches, starting the last two. Their best player by a street in the final game against Ireland.
But just two weeks later, on 29 March last year, he broke the same arm again. More months on the sidelines. A summer tour of the Americas with Scotland out the window.
He diligently did his rehab again, made it back for the start of this season and was easing himself into his fourth game of the campaign at Harlequins in mid-October when things took a bleaker turn.
The images of his ankle fracture and dislocation were so distressing that broadcasters opted not to show a replay of the incident. Team-mates were visibly distraught on his behalf. Sarries boss Mark McCall called it “horrendous”.
Onyeama-Christie, 26, radiates positivity, but this latest setback tested even this most resilient of characters. For the first couple of months, he would have regular flashbacks, seeing his foot facing the wrong way as he was trying to go to sleep. The psychological trauma was as acute as the physical pain.
The game we play is brutal and every time you train or play, you step on the pitch and you run the risk of it happening again.
“There was definitely a lot of ‘why me?’, which I think is probably quite natural,” he recalled. “There was a lot of ‘this isn’t fair, this shouldn’t happen’.
“The main thing I had to wrestle with was just the accepting of it. You can’t fight it. It just becomes a fact of life. I can’t tell myself it shouldn’t happen, or it won’t happen again. The fact of the matter is, the game we play is brutal and every time you train or play, you step on the pitch and you run the risk of it happening again.
“So that’s the main thing I had to do – just accept it. I feel I have done that now. I am playing as I always was, as everyone does, knowing the risks of doing the same thing. But at the same time, I am doing it because I want to, so I feel very much in control.”
Family, friends, Saracens team-mates and staff all rallied round him in the difficult months that followed. If he was already well versed in his own response to adversity, he was blown away by how those closest to him reacted.
“I’ve learned more about how special they are and how much they mean to me and how much people are willing to do for me, which has been a nice reassurance,” he said. “My girlfriend, Tash, has been unbelievable. We were just at home together. With this injury I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t really do anything. She was bringing me food and drinks and making sure everything was OK, while holding down a job all the time. She was just phenomenal.
“Then other family members, friends, team-mates – all the people around me – were always really present and I’m very grateful for that. The number of messages I got, the number of people who popped in to check on me, was incredible.”
That support allowed the flanker to slowly rid himself of the uncertainty over what lay ahead and zone in on his recovery. Given the severity of the injury, it initially appeared his season would be a complete write-off. But Onyeama-Christie returned only five months later. It spoke volumes for his mental and physical fortitude.
Sometimes you really think you miss things and when you get back to them, you realise just how much you did miss them. That is how I’ve felt.
“I think anyone does what is required of them in a sense,” he said. “Ultimately, I wish I hadn’t been in that position, but I didn’t see any other option other than trying to get back to what I do and trying to be the best I can be.”
He made his return, also against Harlequins, in late-March. After that 20-minute blowout, there was another 10 minutes off the bench in a win at Leicester before he was pitched in to start at No 8 against Toulon in a Champions Cup last-16 encounter, when Saracens controversially opted to rest some of their frontliners. Onyeama-Christie had a barnstorming first half as Sarries led 35-13 at Stade Mayol and soldiered on for 66 minutes, but the blowtorch applied as Toulon ran riot in the second half was punishing.
His next four outings were off the bench, before he went the full 80 in Sarries’ final game of the regular Premiership season against Bath, the eighth of his comeback and his 100th for the club. He still feels some pain and stiffness in his ankle joint but is relishing his return to the Scotland fold after being named in their squad for a summer tour featuring a game against NZ Maori in Whangarei and Tests against Fiji – in Suva – and Samoa, in Auckland.
“In terms of getting up to speed, I think I’m still on that journey,” he said. “The ankle was definitely a lot harder to come back from than the previous injuries with the arm. I think I’m still getting there, but I’m feeling fit, I’m feeling good and ready to go.
“Last week [back in Scotland camp] was a bit of a refresher and it is great to be back in this environment. Sometimes you really think you miss things and when you get back to them, you realise just how much you did miss them. That is how I’ve felt.
“This tour was definitely on my radar. It was always a massive motivator for me. The first thing I thought about really, when I got injured again, was that I’d be missing the autumn games and the Six Nations. So I’m really proud and happy to be back within this group.”
We want a competitive tour. It is very clear to us that our goal is to go there and win three games.
Onyeama-Christie’s performance in Scotland’s final game of the 2024 Six Nations, in a narrow defeat in Dublin, suggested a talent hitting his straps on the biggest stage.
On just his second Test start, and his eighth cap, the flanker’s pace, mobility, positional awareness, soft hands and defensive belligerence was a compelling mix as he made several vital turnover steals and 27 tackles in an outstanding personal display.
Scotland’s back-row stocks are relatively healthy heading to New Zealand, even without absent No 8 Jack Dempsey. Jamie Ritchie has rediscovered his best form over the past year, Rory Darge will captain the side on this trip, Matt Fagerson is returning from an ankle injury. If injuries befall the Lions in Australia, any of that trio could receive a call.
Ben Muncaster, Josh Bayliss and Alexander Masibaka, who plays in France’s Pro2, offer different alternatives. But if Onyeama-Christie can return to the levels he showed at the Aviva 15 months ago, he will make it devilishly difficult for Gregor Townsend to leave him out.
Scotland have not toured New Zealand for 25 years, when Townsend was part of a side thumped twice by their Jonah Lomu-inspired hosts. There will be no meeting with the All Blacks until later this year, at Murrayfield, but the Scots will face the Maori – including former Glasgow full-back Cole Forbes – on 5 July, for the first time since that 2000 trip.
Then to the heat and humidity of Suva, where Fiji beat them on the first tour of Townsend’s tenure in 2017, a week later before returning to New Zealand to tackle Samoa at Eden Park on 18 July.
With Fiji only two places, and just over two ranking points, behind Scotland in the World Rugby standings, winning the two Tests is imperative to avoid potentially dropping out of the top eight before the draw for the 2027 World Cup takes place later this year.
“This is a proper tour,” added Onyeama-Christie, who spent three months with the Wellington-based Petone club as a 19-year-old as part of his early development with Saracens.
“We’re playing against what will be three brilliant, physical, strong teams – all with threats all over the park. This group is going to have to be at our best to get the results we want. But that is exactly the sort of tour we want. We want a competitive tour. It is very clear to us that our goal is to go there and win three games.
“I am looking forward to going back, albeit to a different part. It’s a great country, the people are great and they’re rugby mad. I think we’ll all enjoy being in that environment.”
None more so, you suspect, than the irrepressible Saracen.
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