Jamie Roberts packs brains with brawn
Welsh international, who will be in Hong Kong with Racing Metro, may be injured but as a doctor he is well qualified to get the right treatment
Jamie Roberts will take the words "physician, heal thyself" literally when he turns up in Hong Kong with teammates from Racing Metro this week.
For along with the brawn - 1.93 metres in his socks and weighing 110kg - is a brain that has earned him the right to be called Dr Roberts.
It is not one of those honorary doctorates handed out to the rich and famous, but one which was hard-earned. The Welshman - a member of the British & Irish Lions side who beat the Wallabies this summer - had to sacrifice countless sleepless nights over an eight-year period at Cardiff University before qualifying from medical school as a doctor.
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Roberts can now assess for himself how his rehabilitation is progressing after ankle surgery.
That is something he will do this week, while his teammates prepare to meet Toulouse for the Natixis Cup at Aberdeen Stadium on Saturday. The privately organised match is the first clash of French Top 14 clubs in Hong Kong.
"I will continue with my rehab and be around the squad and hopefully attend some training," Roberts said. "I'm here primarily to continue my work with the Racing Metro conditioners as well as work with the coaches on my skills."
Roberts, 26, was in the city earlier this year as part of the Lions squad who took on the Barbarians on June 1 at Hong Kong Stadium.
"It was incredible. I have never played in conditions quite like it with the heat and humidity with four 20-minute periods rather than two 40-minute halves, with the drinks breaks," Roberts recounted. "I have played for Wales at the Sevens before and then in Hong Kong with the Lions.
