From frustration to fizzing
Chiefs co-captain Brad Weber is back from what was a painful spell on the sidelines, in more ways than one.
Brad Weber reckons he might be best served to just stay in his lane this time rather than throw all of his 75 kilograms around.
The Chiefs co-captain is fizzing for his return to the park in tomorrow’s Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Rebels in Melbourne after a ‘‘frustrating’’ three-week spell on the sidelines with a neck injury he revealed wasn’t a one-off.
Weber was seen in all sorts of pain late in his side’s 45-12 win over Moana Pasifika in Hamilton on April 15, but the 31-year-old said it was actually the third game in a row where he had suffered the ‘burner’, or ‘stinger’ which affects the body’s nerves.
‘‘It happened against the Hurricanes, but nothing too bad, wore off after a bit, similar in the Blues game, but just real minor, played on both times,’’ Weber said.
‘‘But the Moana one, that one hit me pretty hard, as you could probably tell, I was in a bit of discomfort.
‘‘By that stage, it was like, ‘OK, it’s happened three weeks in a row, I better get it looked at’. And there was a little bit going on and a bit of inflammation and the disc bulging down onto the exiting nerves of my neck. And if I got my head in the wrong position it would just send basically like pins and needles all down my arm.’’
So off for an MRI scan it was, with Weber admitting such was the part of the body he was dealing with, there was plenty of anxiety, at least initially.
‘‘If you’re talking about your neck, you get a bit scared, but once I went and saw the specialist, he was really reassuring.
‘‘There was nothing on the spinal cord, that all looked sweet, it was literally just the nerves going out that was causing me the issue.’’
Then came the real ‘‘fun’’, with the specialist recommending a couple of CT guided injections to try to settle the inflammation down.
‘‘You’re lying down, so you’re kind of seeing it [the needle], and then they go out and check if it’s where it’s supposed to be.
‘‘And then he’s like, ‘Right, this might hurt a little bit, but I need you to stay still’.
‘‘I was trying to just focus on a point above me so I wasn’t getting too spooked by it.
‘‘And then he’s putting it in and you’re like, ‘Whoa!’. So it was a pretty uncomfortable experience, but no pain no gain, eh?’’
Indeed, Weber said the injections seemed to do the trick and he’s been feeling good since, getting into plenty of contact this week, ‘‘itching’’ to return to action, unfazed that any more big boppers may land another one on him. ‘‘Well I was actually doing it to myself, funnily enough,’’ he noted. ‘‘I was flying into tackles and probably getting my head in the wrong spot. In the Moana game it was me tackling their winger and Naitoa [Ah Kuoi] was on the other side and my head hit that side, and bang, a bit of friendly fire, even.
‘‘So I’m feeling pretty confident . . . I’ll throw all 75 kilos of me around ... nah, I’ll maybe stay in my lane this time.’’
Reduced to a spectator role – which he readily admits is not one he copes with well – Weber was buoyed by what he saw from a young side on their Australia trip, but the Chiefs must bounce back from their defeat to the Brumbies, against a Rebels side stewing over their 71-28 pummelling at Eden Park.
‘‘The Blues certainly did us no favours by giving them a hiding,’’ he said. ‘‘They’ll no doubt be motivated that they’re still in with a chance to make the playoffs.
‘‘So we want to make sure that we front up, that it doesn’t matter about their past results, they can knock us over, and they have in the past when we’ve gone in with a pretty dusty mindset or thought that we just needed to turn up and it’ll happen [in a 16-15 defeat in 2015].
‘‘So I’m sure there won’t be any of that sort of complacency this week.’’
Weber himself will cut a motivated figure, with now a maximum of just six games to remind All Blacks coach Ian
Foster of his wares, ahead of July’s big series against Ireland.
The halfback tussle is real, with Aaron Smith, Finlay Christie and TJ Perenara all national team-mates with Weber last year, while his fellow Magpie Folau Fakatava could be entering the fray, eligibility issues permitting.
‘‘I’ve had a fair bit to do with all of them. The halfback stocks in New Zealand are in a real healthy position at the moment,’’ said Weber, who also trumpeted the talents of his Chiefs understudies.
‘‘I’m especially excited with the two we’ve got here, I think Cortez [Ratima] and Xavier [Roe] are both going to be the future of this club for a long time.
‘‘They’re seriously talented and I’m excited for what their finished product looks like.’’