Barrier becomes too much
quadriceps and ruptured all his ankle ligaments after the Lions tour.
Te’o says: ‘‘When I was getting ready for surgery for my quad, I was laying in the bed with the gown on and I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe I am going under again for another op’ – more crutches and all that. In both codes there are lots of times where you get pressured into coming back early.
‘‘I think about packing it in the whole time when I wake up and my foot is stiff. But then you get to training and start loosening up. Once you are out playing, and you’ve played five weeks on the bounce, life is really good.’’
The clubs literally trade on that devil’s bargain. They trade on the fact that players will push themselves to come back early because the high of playing is so, so far from the low of coping with injury.
Some don’t make it. Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton has been forced to retire before the age of 30. England prop Joe Marler walked away from the international game. He was subconsciously trying to pick up yellow and red cards so he would miss England duty. He couldn’t take the travel, the bashing, the time away from his young family.
Most like Billy Vunipola soldier on. Vunipola has had an operation on torn knee ligaments, shoulder surgery, a torn hamstring, two fractures of his right arm and is currently out with a fracture of his left arm. Vunipola is 26.
He says: ‘‘I can tell you a lot of people still have injuries and try to hide it. We saw it with the high turnover of players being released, it’s almost like we’re into NFL territory. Something is going to give. Something might happen where we follow the NFL or NBA, where they had a lockout . . . I feel like something needs to happen for the suits to realise these guys are serious.
‘‘It comes down to how much we play. I might think I’m strong and tough but I’m not. I just got worn down. The suits are always talking about it but they have never played nine months in today’s rugby.’’
Vunipola tried to be a hero and then he would break again. He was too embarrassed to attend sponsors’ events when injured because he felt like a fake. This is the honour of the modern player.
But where is the honour of the people running the game? They will sell out Twickenham for the All Blacks game, even though the match is a fraud. The England team is just a shadow. The public is being cheated. The All Blacks are being cheated.
But the RFU and the owners of the clubs will keep taking the money, cosy in the knowledge that they will not be the ones on their hands and knees, crawling to the bathroom through the pain.
One day I hope some of the people in charge of club rugby in Europe face a class action because their treatment of the players is negligent.