LIST | 5 Instances Where Rugby Stars Played Through a Serious Injury

Friday, 13 November 2020 at 09:18

bySteven Smith

Injuries are a part and parcel of the game, and players accept that sometimes the body cannot keep up with the physical nature of the sport. However, in some occasions, rugby players seem to disregard their health and continue playing even when they're not 100% fit.

In terms of serious injuries though only a handful of players have managed to stay on the pitch, here are five such examples of stars who Played Through a Serious Injury...

PLAYERS WHO PLAYED THROUGH SERIOUS INJURY:

1. Richie McCaw - BROKEN FOOT

The two-time Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks captain, and most capped international of all time, had to hide a broken foot from the media, his teammates and even his coach, then Graham Henry, during the 2011 RWC.

He would not only play the rest of the semi-final, but also the final a week later and in doing so eked out a famous victory against France to end a 24-year wait for World Cup glory in New Zealand.

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2. Jamie Roberts - CRACKED SKULL

Aged 22, he cracked his skull around his right eye after a collision with Stirling Mortlock that also ended the Wallabies captain’s match. Yet, remarkably, the Cardiff Blues centre stayed on the pitch for a further 15 minutes, even playing a part in the game’s opening try, before succumbing to the pain.

3. Johnny Sexton - SO MANY INJURIES

The fly-half entered the final Test for the Lions against the All Blacks in 2017 with a fractured wrist, suffered in the second Test, before rupturing a tendon in his ankle during the opening half of the decider in Auckland, reported the Irish Independent.

Sexton damaged his wrist in the second half of the famous victory over the All Blacks, but strapped it up for the series decider. After the 15-all draw, he underwent scans that revealed he also had a broken bone in his arm.

4. Joe Marler - BROKEN LEG

The loosehead-prop picked up the leg fracture during the first half of Quins’ 24-17 defeat at Worcester in 2017 but played on and completed the 80 minutes. Hard man.

“In the first half against Worcester away,” said Marler. “The trouble was I did it in the first half and just thought it was a calf knock and pulled my calf as well so there was a bit of confusion there. I thought I could keep running on it because running is not really my forte anyway so I could get away with hobbling a bit.

“I got to the end of the game and said ‘strap it up it’s just a tight calf or whatever’, and then because of the frozen pitches and the weather, we didn’t really get a chance to run it again until the following week’s warm-up which I said to them ‘I’ll be alright, I’ll just run it off’ but I couldn’t run it off because my leg was broken.”

5. Wayne Shelford - RIPPED SCROTUM

We've saved the best for last here, with the story of former All Blacks captain Wayne "Buck" Shelford who suffered possibly the most horrific injury known to man in just his second international game. Be warned, this one is graphic.

During the infamous "Battle of Nantes" between New Zealand and France in 1986, Shelford first had three teeth knocked out of his head before suffering a concussion which knocked him out. But the worst was yet to come.

Early in the second half while trying to recover the ball from a ruck, a stray French boot ripped open his scrotum and left one of his testicles hanging out. Amazingly, Shelford was unaware of the fact until after the game, where he simply asked the team doctor to stitch him back together.