Rory Sutherland is leading a double life in France - a player bursting with pride about starting against Tonga on Sunday, but also a player with no club for next season, no security and no clear way to provide for his family, which has just grown with the arrival of his third child a few weeks ago.

At 26, as an Edinburgh player making strides, he ripped both sides of his groin off the bone, spent a month in a wheelchair, more months confined to bed and many, many months in rehab while being told by specialists that he should never think about playing again.

He beat the odds, though. Got back into the Scotland team, became a Test Lion, got a big-money move to Worcester Warriors whereupon the walls started closing in again. Worcester went bust and he was out on his ear. He picked up a gig with Ulster, did a season in Belfast with his family back in Scotland, but then wasn't kept on.

And now he's here in Nice talking about it all. Thirty-one years old and still fighting. "It's been tough," he says. "It's been hard on my family, my wife and my kids. What happened at Worcester was a horrible shame. I would be lying if I said I was over it. It's still something that's in the back of my mind and not just for the rugby. My wife Tammy and the kids loved it there.

"Mason and Hamish [his sons] started school in Scotland so moving to Worcester was a big thing for them. They went there and integrated well - they were great in school - so to take that away from them again was hard. I went to Belfast while my wife and kids moved back to Scotland, because we thought that would be the best option at the time."

He says he's still not got anything for next season and that he's having to handle the stress associated with that while he's here. That's no mean feat. Everybody around him has stability in their club careers. He has none of that.

"There is always a bit of pressure around that but like everything else - other adversities I've overcome during my career - you have to learn to park it," he explains. "Put it to the back of your mind, take things day-by-day, week-by-week and focus on what is important in the here and now. For me, that's playing against Tonga this weekend."

It's impossible not to root for Sutherland when you know what he's been through.

Back in 2014 he was so desperate to push himself with Edinburgh that he ignored warning signs from his own body. His groin was the issue, but he was in denial.

He knew that all was not well, but he told no-one. He didn't alert the medics, didn't confide in coaches. He didn't want to be stood down, didn't want to miss out on a chance to stake his claim for the number one jersey. He just wanted to play, so he pushed on in what he's called the dog-eat-dog world of professional rugby, disastrously as it turned out.

He was first capped in 2016 against Ireland in Dublin with the pain at its peak. His debut was part-joy, part-anxiety. He was playing tricks with himself, trying to convince his body that all was well. That autumn was when it all collapsed. He won three caps between March and June of 2016 and didn't win another until February 2020.

Edinburgh versus Harlequins, a short sprint and bang! Groin destroyed. A scan, an operation, an infection. Bilateral adductor reconstruction was what they called it. Scary days, those. Testing.

"There's always adversity but you have to learn to overcome it," he says. "I've done that a few times now. I was my own worst enemy when I was younger in terms of how I kept my injury to myself for a long time and it snowballed into something a lot worse and I ended up being out for 14 months.

"I've learned a lot from that as a person. It's played a big role in me getting to where I am now, being involved in Scotland camps again and being on the Lions tour."

Sunday is an enormous opportunity against a gigantic Tongan pack - a World Cup debut he's waited a long time for and a shot at reminding potential employers how good he can be.

"It's high stakes for me at the minute," he admits. "There's always that added pressure when you don't have a contract and you're not getting that opportunity to be in the shop window. All you can do is get your head down and train hard to try and get in the team the next week.

"Playing at a World Cup is something I've always wanted to do. Earlier on in my career, in 2015 when I first turned professional, Vern Cotter called me out to go out for the latter stages of the World Cup, and I think I warmed up as 24th or 25th man, but I missed out there. I'm really happy and grateful to be here."

He says he's "not in a position to be picky" about where he goes next. Ideally, Scotland, but professional rugby is a tough landscape so he's ready for another spell abroad if those are the cards he's dealt. Doing as much as he can with the minutes he gets in France is his target.

"Going back to Worcester and the likes of Wasps folding, it's flooded the market with players, and me going to Ulster and then not being able to continue there, has not really helped," he adds. "It also comes down to the salary cap. We're really hopeful that we'll find a contract, but we'll just have to sit tight and wait and hopefully something comes along."

He can help that process by putting in a stormer on Sunday.