Pictured is Ireland and Ulster player, John Cooney, who today has teamed up with Ireland and Connacht player, Jack Carty and the Tackle Your Feelings campaign, to release a new video, highlighting the importance of their friendship and how they have leaned on each other at critical points in their careers. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson
Ulster scrum-half John Cooney has opened up on the neck injury that ruled him out of Ireland's summer internationals, revealing that he 'couldn't even pass a ball' after the knock.
Cooney injured his neck in an incident that saw him suffer a concussion against Leicester in the European Challenge Cup semi-final in April, which saw him miss the remainder of Ulster's season as well as denying him a possible call-up to Andy Farrell's Ireland squad.
Cooney, who is an ambassador for the Tackle Your Feelings campaign, has elaborated on the neck issue, comparing it to a similar injury that ruled Conor Murray out for a number of months during the 2018/19 campaign.
"I'm seeing the doctor again today, you're allowed leave your isolation for a doctor appointment so just double checking whether the strength is coming back fully," Cooney said.
"It was off that concussion, I kind of fell awkwardly on my neck. I had no way to stop myself so kind of lost the power in my arm. It was kind of similar to what happened to Murray, it's just trying to get back that strength in my arm, get back lifting heavy weights because I feel pretty skinny at the moment."
Cooney admits that having seen the Munster and Ireland scrum-half struggle to battle back from his injury, it is a cause for concern on his own road to recovery.
"It's been three months or so," Cooney said.
"My scores have gotten better in terms of my strength so I'm hoping over the next couple of weeks it might be alright and I can get back into pre-season properly.
"So we'll see today what your man says but I'm confident I won't need any type of surgery and in a month or so I might be back doing everything.
"It was meant to be maybe four to six weeks and then it ended up being slower and slower. So I think it's normally between four to six weeks, or 14 weeks, so I'd say I'll be on the longer spectrum of it."
The 31-year-old scrum-half added that given that he was unable to even pass the ball over the summer, he knew that he wouldn't be able to force his way into the Ireland squad for the recent wins over Japan and USA.
"I knew because of the power I had and the fact that I couldn't even pass a ball, I knew I wouldn't be able to play any rugby.
"I still had the chat with Andy, he obviously knew that I couldn't play and to get it right and we'd see in September what's going on."