A much-needed rest from rugby turned into a nightmare for Connacht's Jack Carty who underwent surgery in Dubai this week to remove his spleen.
The Connacht outhalf was among a group of Connacht players and their partners on a six-day break in the United Arab Emirates capital when the 23-years-old ruptured his spleen on a water slide, necessitating emergency surgery.
Connacht coach Pat Lam, in relaying the "sad news", said the 23-years-old would remain in hospital in Dubai this week, and was likely to be out of action for anything up to three months.
"At first he just thought it was bruising, but he had a bit of pain and when he had it checked, there was some internal bleeding, and a scan found the spleen. He had surgery over in Dubai this morning [Monday]. The spleen has been removed, and he has to stay another week recovering in Dubai. His parents flew over there on Sunday.
"It is one of those things that if he had torn it significantly that he could have recovered, he wouldn't be able to do any contact sport for six months up to two years, so he chose to have it removed. And it's big surgery.
"You go from week-in week-out taking big hits and surviving that, and then you get a knock on a water slide. The most important thing is he makes a full recovery. He's safe, he's had the surgery and he will be back next week. On the back of that, it's an unknown really, so we will follow the medical team."
