Twickenham Night Of Heroes

David Emery reports on the third National Game Awards at Twickenham, supported by The Rugby Paper

- David Emery

There were four Lions in the room, icons like Lawrence Dallaglio, Jeff Probyn and Maggie Alphonsi, former England captain Chris Robshaw and Sevens superstar Dan ‘ The Man’ Norton.

But the biggest cheer of the night from the 700 guests assembled for the National Rugby Awards at Twickenham’s Rose Room was for a man who struggled onto the stage on a double crutch.

Robbie Potter had survived the Manchester bomb blast which killed 23 and maimed 250 more and now he was being awarded the Inspiration of the Year in a special ceremony.

Robbie, a lock with Oldershaw RFC, was waiting to collect his daughter when he was hit by shrapnel and bolts, one of which lodged in his heart. A millimetre either side and he would have been killed.

Robbie, 47, told a hushed audience: “I was dead for three weeks – they couldn’t bring me out of the coma, and my mum and dad were a week away from getting the question ‘should we turn it off ?’

“So, a hundred days ago I was in a coma, eight weeks ago I was getting fed by my best mate, ten weeks ago, my 11-year-old daughter said ‘If you can’t walk, dad, I’ll push you, and she did’.”