IN THE Italian city where the locals queue to pray at the tomb of St Anthony for the recovery of things lost, Ben Alexander is preparing for an unusual Test debut after proving that one can overcome life-or-death situations.

Alexander's promotion to the Wallabies front row as the loose-head prop puts him in an odd position - his run-on Test debut will also be the first time he has started in a professional game. Before he runs on the field with his Australian teammates at Stadio Euganeo to play Italy on Saturday night, his only professional moments have been off the bench for either the ACT Brumbies or the Wallabies.

Then again, Alexander is just delighted that after what he has been through, he can actually appear on a football ground.

Three years ago, the Wallabies loose-head prop snapped his right leg while playing for the Canberra Vikings, which resulted in dire complications.

"I ended up getting an embolus in my lungs from the bone marrow getting into my bloodstream, and if it had gone to my brain, it would have killed me," Alexander said. "I couldn't breathe properly. For a few weeks, I just sat in hospital and they couldn't operate on me as they tried to straighten my leg. They tried to put a cast on my leg, and it wouldn't get any better.

"The cast was put on as they didn't want to operate because of the embolus. After a week, I couldn't move. I had bed sores all up and down my back. I couldn't eat. I couldn't go to the bathroom for days on end, because every time I tried to get up, the cast was so big it was pulling my leg apart."

Through this agonising three-week period, Alexander lost 18 kilograms, and for good reason pondered long and hard whether his football career was finished. It was only by having a metal pole and screws inserted in his leg that the 24-year-old was able to return to the playing field 13 months later. That meant further pain, especially when he headed to the Bedford Blues in England's National Division.

"In England when the grounds started to harden up, because of the pole in my leg, I would be in so much agony after some training sessions," Alexander said. "I couldn't sleep, and would be stumbling around the house. I sunk pretty low for a while, and I wasn't in a good state. It also took me a while to get over it physically."

This prompted a return to Australia and an operation to get the pole "yanked out" of his leg. Thus two more months on the sideline, before a few games with Eastwood's reserve-grade team, and then a chance with the Western Sydney Rams in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship.

It was from there that he was spotted, and picked up by the Brumbies, leading to him becoming the "bolter" in Robbie Deans's initial squad that was selected in June. Alexander's inclusion was a major surprise, especially as he was picked ahead of the two other better-known Brumbies and Wallabies props in Guy Shepherdson and Nic Henderson.

Since then it has been a waiting game. He played the final 20 minutes of each France international in June, and until now has been overlooked for match selection. In the interim, he has been involved in countless Wallabies training camps.

So when he heard his name read out on Tuesday, he was overcome with relief. At least all the training was now heading towards something tangible.

"Even though I haven't played over the last four or five months, I still believe I've improved," he said. "Robbie has kept telling me over the months to treat every week as if you're played, and I've done that. All the training I've put in, that will come out on the weekend. I just want to get out onto the field and put everything I've learnt into practice."

That includes patience and persistence, learnt as much during his time contemplating life in a hospital bed than trying to break into the Test team. As Alexander has discovered in the city with a basilica that celebrates a saint who performed miracles, life can take some unexpected, but ultimately enriching turns.

Team: Adam Ashley-Cooper; Lachie Turner, Stirling Mortlock (c), Timana Tahu, Digby Ioane; Berrick Barnes, Luke Burgess; Richard Brown, Phil Waugh, Dean Mumm, Hugh McMeniman, Mark Chisholm, Matt Dunning, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander. Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Wycliff Palu, David Pocock, Matt Giteau, Quade Cooper, James O'Connor.