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