Irish Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll feared that his neck might be broken when New Zealand's Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu spear-tackled him in the first Test of the Lions tour in Christchuch last June.
O'Driscoll, who lasted just 41 seconds, had to consciously think of putting out his hands to protect his neck as the two All Blacks took a leg each and "slam-dunked" him head first on to the pitch.
"As I was thrown down, the only thing in my mind was to somehow break my fall," says O'Driscoll in an extract from his book, A Year In The Centre, to be published tomorrow by Penguin Ireland. "Much better to break my hand or my arm than my neck," he continues.
"I stretched out with my right arm just in time and hit the ground with a thud. The pain was instantaneous. Something had to give and it was my right shoulder, which had sheared away and, as I now know, dislocated. I tried to shout out to Andrew Cole (touch judge), who I could still sense standing by the ruck, but I had no voice at all - either I had been winded or the shock had numbed me for a minute, I felt like a drowning man, I wanted to shout for help but no one could hear me. Play had moved to the far side of the pitch. I was stranded."
O'Driscoll was also at a loss as why the touch judge Cole did not draw the referee's attention to the dangerous tackle once it had been completed. According to the Lions captain, Cole had screamed at the two offending All Blacks before running down the pitch to keep up with play with Lions winger Gareth Thomas running after him.
"Suddenly I was aware of their hooker Keven Mealamu trying to pick me up by my left leg," says O'Driscoll. "Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he might have considered the ruck to be live and been trying, in New Zealand fashion, to 'clear' me out. Completely illegal of course but common place here.
"No alarm bells yet. I am a solid 14 stone plus and had a good strong body position, so initially Mealamu struggled to shift me. On my right Tana Umaga joined the action on our side of the ruck, blocking any Lions attempt to get the ball, facing infield. He swivelled to the left as the ball was cleared, and then swivelled back to me and got busy, grabbing me high on my right leg and lifting. I felt myself coming off the ground, with the ball already gone.
"This was really serious and dangerous. I felt extremely vulnerable. I had never been upended like that before in a rugby match. I could hear Gareth Thomas screaming at the touch judge, Andrew Cole, who had stepped into the field of play. I could also hear Cole shouting 'Leave him alone, put him down, put him down'. They certainly did that: they dumped me from a great height and I found myself heading for the ground more quickly than seemed natural. Was I speared? I think so. Slam-dunked is probably the best expression that sums it up.
"Not that it makes much difference - even if they just dropped me they were reckless as to whether I broke my neck or not."
O'Driscoll was taken to the medical station inside the ground where he was laid out on a table with his shoulder dislocated and "sweating like a pig" with pain.
There was no morphine as someone had earlier collapsed in the stands and used the entire supply. As the nurse cut away his jersey she asked him could she have his Lions shirt for her kids.
"Mother of God. What was she thinking," says O'Driscoll. "I've been speared off the bloody pitch after just 40 seconds of the Test series and she wants the shirt off my back as well. Picking over the bones of a Lions corpse. I tried to use some very bad language but the words just wouldn't come . . . What is wrong with this bloody country? Just start treating me like a human being."
