He said: “I was decked out in not one but three grass skirts tied together to cover my ‘substantial posterior’ during a fun night in Amersham but it went horribly wrong. Someone decided it would be amusing to set fire to the skirts but, unable to remove them, I ran out into the night, where fuelled by oxygen, the flames took hold. A teammate rugby tackled me and smothered the flames with a jacket. I had suffered burns to 43% of my body and had life-threatening injuries.”

Initially not expected to survive the night, Simon promised his father that he intended to live. After ten days on life support at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, with the help of NHS doctors, nurses and physios he made good that promise.  It looked unlikely that he would walk or use his hands as he once had, let alone play rugby again.

Seven months later, he ran out leading the team at Maidenhead onto the pitch, with a standing ovation from the crowd. He says: “Playing the game I loved again with the team that had supported me every day, standing out there with the crowd applause I certainly shed a tear.”

Mr Cripps’ father was at the time an NHS dentist, his mother an NHS nurse and his younger sister has since become an NHS GP. His wife, Cara is also an NHS physio who has been working on the frontline during the coronavirus crisis.