Ormond returns from bad break
Experienced Taranaki rugby wing Jackson Ormond is where he didn’t expect to be.
Less than three months after breaking his leg playing for Southern in their semifinal loss to Coastal, Ormond started for a makeshift Taranaki side in last week’s Mitre 10 Cup match against North Harbour and now he has been named on the bench for their semifinal against Tasman on Saturday night.
The most experienced player in the squad with 57 appearances to his name, Ormond has benefited from injuries to others deep in the season but his persistence and dogged determination to come back from a broken fibula could potentially pay off with a second final appearance in three years if Taranaki can get past Tasman.
‘‘I thought I was done for the year,’’ he admitted. ‘‘It [the break] wasn’t as bad as I first thought. When I finally came out of the moon boot it felt pretty good and I thought I’d be back into it but it took longer than I expected. It only really came 100 per cent right a couple of weeks ago.’’
Now over the constant aching he suffered when he tried to run during his rehab, Ormond was understandably excited about the opportunity to be involved in a semifinal.
Like most players, Ormond, 26, has not made a good spectator and has preferred to catch any action via the lounge.
However, he was in the stands when Taranaki successfully defended the Ranfurly Shield against Manawatu a little more than a week ago.
‘‘I started to see back after back go down and I started to think then there might be a chance. Then, what do you know, Willie [Rickards] rang me to say they might need me to run around.’’
Having been involved in seven of the eight years coach Colin Cooper has been in charge since his second coming, Ormond was in a good position to judge where he thought they stacked up and he remained fairly confident about their chances of progressing to the last week of the competition.
‘‘Some games have not been as pretty as others but I feel like the last few games before Sunday, they were looking fairly sharp. That’s what you want, the boys performing at the business end of the season.’’
Meanwhile, Taranaki Rugby commercial manager Geoff Hitchcock has urged fans not to be complacent about the semifinal after ticket sales buttoned off from the beginning of the week.
‘‘People need to get amongst it because it’s win or go home time,’’ he said.
He thought tickets were really well priced with ground admission just $15.