Ruby Tui sees the bright side now
In any given year, New Zealand’s medical professionals deal with up to 30 cases of mumps, half of which are in children under 10. Rates of the viral illness have declined by more than 90 per cent since the introduction of a vaccine, with those who are immunised rated as extremely unlikely to contract the mumps.
And yet, in the weeks leading into the Commonwealth Games in April, Ruby Tui started to feel ill. Despite having her jabs at 15 months and four years, she’d contracted an illness all but wiped out by modern medicine.
She can laugh now about the incredible odds she was on the wrong end of in April, but the experience has made Tui all the more grateful for the fact she’s headed to the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco this month.
‘‘There is always a bright side and this is definitely one,’’ Tui said. ‘‘I’m probably a lot more grateful than some because I got knocked out of the last pinnacle event.
‘‘For a rugby player, it’s nothing new. It happens all the time. In 2013, the last World Cup, I did my ACL and needed knee surgery the tournament before that one, so it’s part of being a professional athlete, but it’s something really special to be going to this one, absolutely.’’
Athletes usually try to control every little thing they can in order to find success. Their health is their livelihood, so they eat right, train hard, avoid risk.
It’s why Tui’s booming laugh projects across the room now when recalling her mumps episode. The odds were so slim it would ever happen.
‘‘We ended up having to go through everybody’s medical history, and pretty much everyone was vaccinated but there is still a small chance that you can get the mumps,’’ she said.
‘‘It didn’t matter that I was vaccinated. It didn’t matter that I was healthy. I mean, you ask the girls, I’m the one going around with the hand sanitiser, I’m quite strict about that stuff. The universe aligned the wrong way for me.
‘‘The weird thing was, I think there was one person [in the team] who hadn’t been vaccinated, had their jab, but we still got it into the squad.
‘‘I think the doctor was saying that even though I was immunised, you’re still only 97 per cent immune, so there’s 3 per cent who have that chance. And I just got that unlucky 3 per cent.’’
With Tui, one of the first names in coach Allan Bunting’s starting seven at full fitness, out from the Commonwealth Games side, there was a minor reshuffle with the 26-year-old sent home.
New Zealand went on to claim gold, which would have brought memories of 2013, when Tui’s ACL surgery meant she missed the World Cup in Russia, another tournament New Zealand went on to win without her.
This time, touch wood, Tui will line up in a pinnacle event, although she was nursing a minor knock at the team naming yesterday, the result of an intense series of trial games the previous day.
‘‘You could say it means a lot more to me, but this trial has been next level,’’ Tui said.
‘‘I can say hand on heart, we could have taken two sevens teams to this tournament. It was really hard, there were tears and discussions. It means so much to every one of these girls.’’
There is a real feeling in the New Zealand camp that if they were permitted two teams in San Francisco, either one could win the tournament. They back their skill level against any team in the world, and believe their desire and hunger to succeed sets them apart.
Nobody has more skill, desire and hunger than Ruby Tui.