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Kieran Read reveals injury regret over World Cup loss to England
By Online Editors
Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has opened up about a calf injury which he played through during New Zealand's World Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of England.
Speaking about the previously unknown injury in his new autobiography Straight Eight, Read revealed that he picked up the calf niggle during his side's emphatic quarter-final victory over Ireland, which had prevented him from taking part in team training sessions in the lead-up to the England clash.
The 34-year-old loose forward questioned whether his lack of participation in the build-up to the semi-final showdown influenced the outcome of the match, which the All Blacks lost 19-7 in Yokohama.
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"What if I had been able to train with the team that week instead of watching from the sideline?" Read wrote.
"What if I had been out there to offer a little more direction, or reassurance, or assistance?"
Read ultimately took to the field against England, and made no excuses about his calf or the English performance, which he described as "simply too good".
Regardless of England's supreme on-field efforts, the revelation of Read's leg injury epitomises a poor All Blacks showing which prevented them from pursuing an unprecedented hat-trick of World Cup titles.
A vigorous English defence, masterminded by ex-All Blacks coach John Mitchell, repelled almost every wave of attack from Steve Hansen's men, while New Zealand's accuracy at the lineout - a key aspect of their game plan of which Read played a vital role in - failed to fire.
Read's calf injury was also symbolic of his final two years as an All Black, which was a time of his career that plagued by injuries that kept him sidelined for long periods at a time.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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