Greg Holmes prepares for milestone Super Rugby match after nearly 'not being able to play again'
Western Force prop Greg Holmes has revealed he considered retiring last year after suffering a devastating hand injury.
Holmes will notch his 150-game Super Rugby milestone when he fronts up for Saturday's clash with the Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
But the 37-year-old almost hung up his boots last year after breaking his hand and thumb while playing against the Reds in Brisbane.
"I caught someone's shin with my hand and it shattered a few bones in my hand," Holmes said.
"I had to get a bone graft out of my wrist.
"I went that way because we were leaning towards not being able to play again, because I didn't want to lose complete use of my thumb.
"I put a fair bit of time and work into my thumb and I've got my hand working somewhat OK now, so I decided to go around again."
Holmes notched 144 Super games with the Reds and he's thrilled that his milestone will be at Suncorp Stadium - a venue that holds plenty of special memories for him.
The Former Wallabies front-rower cherished his time at the Reds, with the 2011 title one of his fondest moments.
But he's also excited to be part of an improving Force outfit that is steadily growing in star power.
A week after signing Wallabies lock Sitaleki Timani, the Force secured the prized signature of former Reds star Izack Rodda.
The powerful lock will finish his stint with French Top 14 outfit Lyon before linking up with the Force in July for a contract that will run until 2022.
The Reds (3-0) are riding high after beating the Brumbies 40-38 in a thriller last Saturday.
The Force are still stewing over their 10-7 loss to the Melbourne Rebels, in which they conceded a scrum penalty on their own feed in the final minute when they were within striking distance of scoring a try.
Bad lineouts and failed kicking for touch also plagued the Force last week and Holmes said they have been working hard to fix their issues.
"We were actually really disappointed in our scrum last week," Holmes said.
"We planned to attack the Rebels a little bit, and things went a little bit AWOL there.
"Our lineout didn't fire at all, so this week we've really addressed that.
"We know the Reds have a huge scrum and a good lineout, so that's an area where we have to be on point."
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I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
England played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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