Rugby: Alex Crockett is using his year of hell as motivation to never forget his love and passion for rugby.

The Bath star, and former Sheldon School pupil has battled back from a career threatening injury and a drink driving conviction.

The centre suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament after his Mini Cooper hit a kerb and flipped in August 2006 as he drove home the morning after a party.

Police found 119ml of alcohol in his blood two hours after the crash, the legal limit is 80ml, and he was banned from driving for a year and fined £550 in December 2006.

He has overcome his problems to become a fixture in the Guinness Premiership side again and scored the winning try in Bath's 20-14 EDF Energy Cup win over Leicester Tigers last month.

"When you are coming out of the tunnel and you hear the fans, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and those are the moments I really appreciate," said Crockett, whose parents Karen and Robin live in North Wraxall.

"If you have come out of school straight into rugby and never had a 9-5 job, you don't value what you have got.

"Getting up a 7am to do weights every day for six months gave me more motivation to get back."

He has now got a new zest for the game following the accident.

"I had nine months of doing the same thing," said the 25-year-old. "You have to put in the time and it was like Groundhog Day.

"But it is something you cannot rush back from otherwise it plagues you."

Since August, Crockett has been wracked with regret about the fateful night, which could have ended his career.

But he praised his club for standing by him.

"It is quite easy to say it now, that I wish I had waited another hour or two, but all I wanted to do was go home after a sleepless night," he said.

"I had a few meetings with the club where I wanted the ground to open up but they made it clear they didn't want me moving and would stand by me.

"There was the crash and the injury so the last thing you want to worry about is your employment."

After the meetings, Crockett admits he tried to stay "whiter than white" but, after a while, reintroduced himself into the team.

"For the first two or three months I kept a low profile," he said.

"But then I got back into the team set up and it almost became a bit harder because I was involved with the pre-game, getting nervous and excited and wanted to be out there but I couldn't."

Crockett, whose brother Rupert plays outside centre for Chippenham, is now concentrating on the season ahead - and also going to see his sibling in action.

He said: "We've got a good team, the World Cup boys are back and there is no reason why we can't win some silverware.

"But I've never had the honour of donning the famous black and white and Rupert has been moaning at me that I haven't seen a game for a while, so I need to get down there."