A rugby union player who made an astonishing recovery after breaking his neck is having to give up the game.

Ian Scrivin was back home on Wednesday, three days after six-hour surgery to mend two broken bones he suffered in a crunching tackle.

Mr Scrivin, 39, a Skipton Rugby Club (SRC) forward, was injured minutes before the end of the game against Leodiensians last Saturday.

The operation at Leeds General Infirmary on Sunday involved pinning a metal plate in his neck.

The father-of-two, of New Laithe Close, Skipton, said: "The rugby will have to end - but I will still be able to ride my bike, do a bit of running and fell walking."

He believes he is one of the luckiest men to be still walking.

"The surgeon told me that in 99 out of 100 cases where there was so much damage, the spinal cord would have been broken," he explained.

But by 7am the following morning, Monday, after the operation by Jeremy Timothy, he was able to stand unaided.

"I didn't black out and was relieved to be able to wriggle my fingers and feet, but if someone had told me as I was laid their waiting for the ambulance that I would be home by Wednesday, I wouldn't have believed them."

He praised club physiotherapist Nick Kinsella who took charge until the ambulance crew arrived.

Mr Scrivin now faces six weeks of stabilisation before he can consider returning to work as an aerospace design project engineer.

"I don't really know whether being fit helped limit the damage, but I'm sure it has helped with the recovery process," he said.

Chris Windle, a spokesman for SRC, said Mr Scrivin had been a "great servant" of the club. "He has been extremely loyal and is a very good player. We will miss him greatly. He was the best forward on the pitch on Saturday."

He said his fitness had helped him pull through as quickly as he had.

Mr Scrivin was very lucky to have escaped some form of paralysis, said Peter Banyard, director of development for the Surrey-based International Spinal Research Trust.

"The surgeon must have done a brilliant and elegant operation. The rugby player was very lucky, but on the other hand, if you are playing a game of rugby every week you are more likely to win the lottery than have an injury that leads to paralysis."

Paralysis occurs when the spinal cord, shielded by the vertebrae, is damaged. Mr Banyard said in the year 2000, the latest year for full figures, 700 people in the UK and Ireland were paralysed because of a broken neck. Of those, about 12 were rugby players.