Capstick ready to compete for selection having returned from injury

It was a brutal blow when Richard Capstick was injured in the very final week of the 2025/26 pre-season block. After dedicating the opening eight weeks of the season to his rehab, the back-rower made his return to the field last Friday evening in Manchester.

“It was probably the worst time to get injured!” Capstick proclaims, though playing it off with a good-natured chuckle.

“If you’re going to have it happen, you’d rather it was at the start of pre-season. Atleast then you get to miss it all! My pre-season up until then had been really good, I thought as a group we’d worked incredibly hard and I was really excited for the season.

“So, it took the wind out of my sail a little bit but that’s life. You’ve just got to get on with it, don’t you? It’s going to happen, it’s part of being a professional rugby player, so it’s about how you deal with it and how you come back from it.”

Confronting things with a positive mindset, Capstick’s injury being a PCL strain meant that the surgical route was not required, and a more conservative rehab monitoring process was enacted.

He wasn’t alone in those tough sessions in the gym with the physios. Fellow youngsters Max Norey and Tommy Wyatt were both deep into their own personal rehab programmes. Capstick explained the camaraderie was key to keeping him motivated and positive.

He said: “Rehab is never fun. It’s probably one of the hardest times you’ll have in your career as a professional rugby player. You do end up developing better friendships almost as a product of it though. For example, I’ve spent much more time with Tommy because he had a knee injury as well and then we had Max with us as well.

“Max was coming back to fitness at the same kind of time as me, so I did a lot of my running with him. He was a little ahead of me in the comeback, so it was good for me to have him to try to chase.”

Whatever the method of motivation, it worked smoothly. Capstick was named to start against Sale Sharks in last Friday’s PREM Rugby Cup match, featuring in 54 of the gruelling 80-minute fixture.

The 90-cap forward has confronted injury lay-offs before but was he nervous for this latest comeback?

He said: “I was, not so much nervous, but just unsure about how my knee was going to feel. It actually felt a lot better than I thought it was going to. It was just so good to be back.

“It was freezing cold, so not necessarily the conditions I wanted to return in, but it was great to get out there. I basically had an extended pre-season, so I’ve had my time in the gym extended to try to get back to form.”

Capstick’s newest opportunity to test himself could arrive this weekend as Chiefs welcome Bristol Bears to Sandy Park for another round of PREM Rugby Cup action. The game will not be televised, but tickets are still available here.