DAN Lydiate has revealed he wondered whether he would ever recover from a broken neck to live a normal life again - much less play for Newport Gwent Dragons and even more be on the brink of winning his first Welsh cap.

But that is the position he finds himself in two years minus two weeks since he lay motionless on the ground on a bitterly cold night in Perpignan in the south west of France before spending a week in a hospital bed far from home as a young 19-year-old who had been making his way in rugby.

"My first thought was ‘would I have a normal life again,’" he admitted as he celebrated his call-up for the Wales squad for the autumn internationals.

"I wondered if I would walk again, then whether I would play rugby again because a lot of people who get this become paralysed.

"When you are lying in a hospital bed with the kind of thing that has just happened to me playing rugby again is the last thing on your mind.

"When it happens you lose the feeling in your arms and legs, anybody would be scared.

"The medical people were also scared to move me at first, but they took all the necessary precautions and I couldn’t fault them. From the off the doctors were quite positive and the recovery went well.

"The first thing Lydiate did as he began to improve was escape from rugby and get on with some work on the family farm at Llandrinddod Wells.

"I got outside the rugby environment on the farm which helped me, there’s always jobs to do there and I just got on with them quietly," he said.

He then felt well enough to resume playing last year and did sufficiently well to be chosen for Wales’ end-of-season tour to North America at the end of the season only to have to withdraw because it clashed with the Dragons’ Heineken Cup play-off against Calvisano in Italy.

But, confidence restored, he was quick off the blocks this season and soon impressed Gatland, though a senior Wales squad call-up was, as he put it, "A dream come true.

"In fact, Lydiate couldn’t take the smile off his face right through yesterday’s proceedings, clearly enjoying himself and pinching himself that it was actually happening.

Asked whether he could have imagined being called up for the Wales squad after his broken neck experience, he replied, "I would never have believed them if they had told me this would happen, I’m really happy, I’m over the moon.

"My mum has been crying her eyes out, she usually does, and others have been screaming down the phone.

My parents watch the Dragons’ home games so there’s no chance they’ll miss any of this."

Asked what he put his selection down to, he said, "I had a good pre-season, got a couple of starts and my form picked up.

But I’m just an honest player trying to do the basics well - that’s what got me here.

"I’m really happy to be here, the nasty injury is all behind me. I’ve met all the players who were very friendly and shook hands.

I know who they are because I’ve watched them on TV," he added engagingly.

"Now we’ll just see what happens, they are exciting times."