Prior to the half-time warm-up, Townsend had spotted the machinery stationed on the side of the pitch. He recalled questioning their unusual presence before abruptly finding himself trapped underneath one of the heavy vehicles.
Fortunately, the winger managed to fall onto the floor at exactly the right time, preventing any bones from snapping. Despite frantic team-mates calling for a stretcher and medical staff, a resilient Townsend simply brushed off his minor bumps and bruises to continue warming up.
“At halftime we were going out to warm up and I’ve seen two rollers on the side of the pitch,” he added. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’ve never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?’ But we got called to warm-up. Didn’t think anything of it.
“The next I saw him was when I was literally underneath him and thankfully no serious damage. A couple of bumps and bruises but managed to walk away unscathed, luckily.”
“They were very surprised that I continued the warm-up. They were telling me to go to the doctor, they were calling for the stretcher. But I’ve been around the block, I’ve had my setbacks, I’ve had my injury issues – a roller’s definitely not going to stop me from continuing, that’s for sure.”