Back in February 2022, O’Neil dislocated his shoulder in a cup game for his club Old Northamptonians whilst making a tackle. For the remainder of the season, he worked hard with physios to get back to full fitness. “Frustrating would be an understatement with that one, it was gut-wrenching!” is what O’Neil said about the initial injury. “It was frustrating to see other players take my spot in the team and eventually go on to lift the trophy as I watched from the sidelines.”
After joining Leeds Beckett in September 2022, he worked with the physios there to get back out on the pitch, again proving hard, but he fought and managed to make a cameo in the last game of the season against Uni of Leeds.
After missing out all of last season, O’Neil was excited to start again at Beckett pushing for a place in the first-team squad. After a confident pre-season, he had found himself in the third team ready to get back playing properly after over a year on the sidelines. He started as a sub and was brought on in the second half of their game against Durham, only to go down with a shoulder injury just 10 minutes after coming on. “I knew straight away something was wrong. My shoulder was out, it was dislocated.” He played the remainder of the game coming off the pitch full of emotion. “The physios had told me if it comes out again, I need to have surgery.”
O’Neil is now weighing up the options, which are essentially having the surgery or not. “My emotions are a bit all over the place. I’m at the point now where I have to start thinking about my future. If I have the surgery will I end up doing my shoulder again?” He said when asked about his initial reaction to the re-injury. “I don’t want to get to 40 and not be able to lift my shoulder up. I’ve been debating whether a career change is necessary.”
The young back row is more frustrated than anyone about the situation he is currently in and is trying to keep his morale high when deciding the next steps for his career. “Feelings are definitely not the highest of highs at the moment but hopefully I will get this sorted which I’m looking forward to.”
What’s next for O’Neil? Due to the injury being so fresh, he is still making a decision on what to do. “Next steps for me? I would say surgery to get it fixed, but I need to consider if I should carry on playing rugby. This is huge as it’s one of those things I’ve grown up with my whole life. It’s a big decision but it will all fall into place.”
