Josh McKay 'more comfortable now' at Glasgow Warriors following surgery

Warriors' Josh McKay scores his side's fifth try during a BKT United Rugby Championship match between Glasgow Warriors and Vodacom Bulls at Scotstoun Stadium, on October 08, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Josh McKay believes he is ready to improve on his impressive debut season with Glasgow Warriors after recovering from summer surgery on a long-standing ankle injury.

The 25-year-old full-back moved north from his native New Zealand last November and his impact for the club was one of the few positives to come out of a generally disappointing 2021-22 campaign for the Scotstoun outfit.

He scored five tries in 15 appearances for Warriors but missed the start of the current season because he was still rehabbing.

When he did eventually back on the field as a Warriors player – following a hit-out for Boroughmuir Bears in Super6 – McKay made an immediate impact, scoring the fifth and final try for the team in last Saturday’s impressive 35-21 win over the Bulls at Scotstoun.

“It was a high ankle sprain,” explained McKay when asked about the injury. “I had syndesmosis repair which is tightrope surgery between the tibia and the fibula bones in my lower leg, just to hold it together.

“I hurt it playing for Canterbury about six or seven weeks before I came over to Scotland, so I played for six or seven months on it. I had it scanned here after about two or three months, and we made the call to try to make it through to the end of the season.

“Obviously, if I’d had another big incident where I’d rolled it badly then I would have had surgery sooner, but it looked like I could hang on until the end of the season and we went down that route. I’m happy that we did.

“I was managed throughout the week at training, and when I was warm and on the field, I was fine,” he added. “But I still think it was holding me back a little bit last season. I definitely feel more comfortable now, that’s for sure.”

McKay is now focused on helping Warriors banish their away day Blues – which has now stretched to eight league games on the bounce – with the team to play the Sharks in Durban tomorrow afternoon being announced at lunchtime today.

“We just have to individually get ourselves to a place where we can perform away from home as well as we do at home,” he concluded.