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'The doctor said I would never play again': All Black Nepo Laulala upbeat ahead of first season with Blues

(Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

In 2016, one year after making his All Blacks debut, Nepo Laulala shifted north from the Crusaders to the Chiefs. The move didn’t go to plan, however, with Laulala suffering a horrific knee injury that kept him off the park for the entire season.

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Heading into his first season with the Blues, Laulala will be hopeful that no such fate befalls him ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Hurricanes in Wellington.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had quite a few season-ending injuries, and I wasn’t able to pick up the games I probably should have,” Laulala said in the build-up to the opening weekend of Super Rugby Aotearoa.

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Ross Karl is joined by Bryn Hall and James Parsons to look ahead to season 2021 of Super Rugby Aotearoa which kicks off this weekend.

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Ross Karl is joined by Bryn Hall and James Parsons to look ahead to season 2021 of Super Rugby Aotearoa which kicks off this weekend.

“It’s been really tough. There were doubts. With my knee, the doctor said I would never play again. That annoyed me and made me want to prove him wrong. I wanted to use that as my inspiration and come back from it, and hopefully, also, there might help someone out there who has the same thing and sees that you can come back from it.”

In his five seasons contracted to the Chiefs, Laulala played in just 41 matches. He missed 39.

While some of that was no doubt to the strong depth the Chiefs possessed in the front row, many of his absences were due to unfortunate and untimely injuries.

Laulala wasn’t the only Chiefs prop struck down either. Fellow All Blacks Angus Ta’avao and Atu Moli have spent considerable time on the sidelines while Mitch Graham was eventually forced to retire after suffering a bad leg injury at the 2017 Brisbane Tens competition. Aidan Ross has also had his struggles.

Naturally, Laulala will be hoping that his run of poor luck is behind him – and the former Wesley College student will have to be on his best form, given the strength at the Blues’ disposal.

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Laulala will be competing with Ofa Tuungafasi for minutes on the tighthead side of the scrum, while the pairs’ All Blacks teammates, Karl Tu’inukuafe and Alex Hodgman will battle it out for the starting loosehead berth.

As it so happens, former Bristol Bears prop James Lay will wear the No 1 jersey in Saturday’s match-up while Laulala gets the first chance to impress at No 3. Tu’inukuafe and Tuungafasi, meanwhile, will cover from the bench.

 

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“It’s awesome, there’s good healthy competition and it will help us improve each other and there’s longevity as well because we can share the minutes and share the load in the games,” Laulala said.

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“We’ve got a good thing going here, we’ve got a good pack. I just want to enjoy my season as well and have as much fun as we can. As long as we keep our culture going we should be good,” he said.

Super Rugby Aotearoa will be streamed live and on demand for RugbyPass subscribers across the UK and in parts of Europe and Asia. The competition kicks off on Friday with the Highlanders hosting the Crusaders before the Blues take on the Hurricanes at Sky Stadium in Wellington.

Listen to the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod below:

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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