Fit-again Holmes returns to action in style

Dubai: One year ago, Josh Holmes was fighting for his life in hospital. Today, he is a member of the first Australian team to win the IRB under-19 World Championship.

He played a central role in his country's triumph over New Zealand at the Dubai Exiles last Friday.

It marked quite a remarkable recovery by the scrum-half who once wondered whether he would ever be able to walk again or even talk after contracting encephalitis.

Holmes, the leading try scorer in the Division A competition with five touchdowns, shared his dramatic story. "I was on my way to a training session, preparing for last year's tournament in South Africa, when I started to suffer really bad headaches," said the Sydney-born teenager.

"Things just got worse and worse so I was taken to the hospital and put in intensive care where I stayed for three weeks.

"I was later told there was a one-in-a-six chance of me surviving and there was also every possibility that I would suffer brain damage. But rugby saved my life because of my fitness."

The illness, though, had taken its toll on Holmes. "I could not walk, I could not talk and I could not see very well. But gradually I began to get better."

It was a painfully slow process with the player eventually having to learn to walk all over again while he also took time to regain his ability to speak. After being allowed home from hospital, he had to spend 12 weeks doing virtually nothing before being allowed back to the training field where the Waratahs fitness coach, Marty Hulme, played a key role. "I owe him so much," said Holmes.

"Marty got me back in peak condition ? I hope that I've repaid him and done my country proud."

Australia coach Phil Mooney said: "What Josh went through last year certainly puts rugby in perspective. Every day we see him is a bonus and what a reward it has been to come to Dubai and win a World Championship."

Holmes, a scrum-half who is being compared to South Africa great Joost Van Der Westhuizen, is once again confident enough to look to the future. His next target is to earn a place in the Australian under-21 squad and then to win a full cap. "That's what I aspire to be, but I've got a lot of hard work in front of me," he said.