Wales and Gloucester-Hartpury lock Gwen Crabb said rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament during the Six Nations is the "hardest thing" she has ever been through.

Crabb had only returned to playing after fracturing her fibula in December.

She has had surgery and faces seven to nine months on the sidelines.

"Off the back of my ankle injury I think in hindsight it was easier for me to remain positive during that injury. One, it was shorter term, and two, it was probably the first big injury I'd had since I was about 17, 18," Crabb told the BBC Radio Gloucestershire No Tackle podcast.

"My focus was to get back for the Six Nations and I did that, so you can imagine there was a lot of emotion around playing that first game against Ireland.

"For, so soon in the game, that to all come crashing down was probably one of the hardest things I've ever been through in my life."

Crabb has experience with an ACL rupture having recovered from the same injury early in her career, although to her other knee.

That experience meant Crabb knew what she was up against this time around.

"I knew exactly what I had done when I did it, because you just know what it feels like," Crabb continued.

"Trying to get that realisation of what I had done and how long I was going to be out for, especially coming off the back of a four-month injury, was pretty tough to get my head around.

"I don't think it really set in for about four or five days, there was many ups and downs where I'd just be sat in a room thinking I was all right and then all of a sudden I'd just remember something and be like, 'This is happening.'"

'Coming out the other side'

Crabb has been capped 29 times for Wales since her debut in 2019 and was awarded a retainer contract from the Welsh Rugby Union in February last year.

She joined Premier 15s side Gloucester-Hartpury in 2020 but has had to watch as her club stormed back to the top of the league table after their win over Loughborough.

"[I'm] definitely feeling a lot more positive and excited to get back to rehab and back to training and see what the next few months has," Crabb said.

"I want to push it to try and get back as soon as I can but also it's one of those injuries where if things aren't right there's no point pushing it because things are just going to set you back.

"I think I'm going to look at it more in a case of ticking off milestones. little things like being able to walk properly again, being able to squat, being able to use a bike, run, those are the performance indicators that are more important for any injury like this."