Injured Kiwi wing leaves it to nature

HIGH-FLIER: Waisake Naholo seems to have made a miracle recovery from a leg injury that it was believed would keep him out of the Rugby World Cup SO was it a miracle?

On July 17 winger Waisake Naholo made his debut for New Zealand in their Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Christchurch.

He broke his leg. Or rather he cracked his fibula.

It was said that he would be out for at least three months. He was obviously out of the Rugby World Cup. But hang on. Last week, he was named in the All Blacks’ 31-man squad, even though he will probably miss their first two matches in the tournament. What happened? Well, the story goes that Naholo flew to his native Fiji, to the village of Nadroumai, to see his uncle Isei Naiova, who was convinced that he could help Naholo with some alternative treatment.

And coach Steve Hansen was not exactly distancing himself from the process.

“I know of the treatment because I was over there not so long ago, before Waisake got injured, and they were talking about it,” he said.

“And they swear by it. So who are we to boo-hoo alternative medicine?

“The Chinese have been doing it for years. If it works I’m a believer.

“I don’t care what he’s doing, if it’s making him think he’ll get better and he does get better then we’ve got one more person we can select.”

So kawakawarau leaves were wrapped around Naholo’s legs for four days.

“When I first touched his leg he was in pain but after four days he hardly felt any pain,” Naiova said.

“This healing has been performed by our forefathers and has been passed down from generation to generation. It is a gift from God.

“The kawakawarau leaf grows here in the village, but only some people like myself and my family members can heal injured people by this leaf.

“I have healed many Fijian rugby players and I have seen players recover well and play rugby like nothing happened to them.” Too good to be true? It is probably wise to listen to the verdict of former All Blacks doctor John Mayhew, who, crucially, reckons the initial estimation of a three-month recovery was wildly inaccurate.

“He [Naholo] is just coming back at the appropriate time for the injury he has had,” said Mayhew.

“It appears he has made a dramatic recovery, but to me it just fits in with normal medical time frames.”

If Naholo’s treatment proves to be the right thing, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer would probably regret not flying some of his injured stars off to Fiji instead of keeping them cooped up in a training camp in Durban ahead of the World Cup. — ©

They swear by it. So who are we to boo-hoo alternative medicine?