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Untreated injuries and waiting for pay - the shocking truth on life after a World Cup repechage
The question of how smaller rugby unions treat their players has been highlighted by the problems three Kenya players have faced after being injured during the Rugby World Cup repechage tournament in Marseille in November last year.
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The situation has been complicated by the KRU claiming a delay in treatment was caused by their insurance cover but World Rugby confirmed to RugbyPass that the governing body’s insurance was in place for the matches.
Besides concerns over the treatment of their players, the Kenya Rugby Union have yet to pay player allowances from the Marseille games as they are facing on-going financial problems which have also impacted on their Sevens squad.
The back-row duo of Dalmus Chituyi and KCB’s Martin Owilah and hooker Coleman Were were injured when Kenya took on Germany, Hong Kong and Canada in a bid to qualify for Rugby World Cup. The three players are yet to play for their respective clubs as surgery has been delayed following a problem with availability of surgeons and the Union’s insurance cover which ended in December.
Chituyi told Nation Sport that he is still waiting for surgery on a torn knee meniscus while KCB’s Owilah, who damaged his left knee cartilage, is not happy at how Kenya Rugby Union have handled their cases. “I am told there are issues with insurance but I think things should have been handled better,” he said.,
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In other news: Ireland and Leinster flanker Sean O’Brien to join London Irish in December
KRU director of rugby Thomas Odundo said there have been various reasons for the delay in the treatment of the players, claiming there was an unavailability of surgical specialists and insurance cover complications. However, he revealed that Chituyi and Were due to undergo surgery and Owilah will have his procedure on February 19.
Odundo said after the tournament in France, the players could not be treated as specialists at the Kijabe Hospital were not available. “The year ended without securing an appointment since most of the doctors were only available after Christmas festivities,” said Odundo. “What complicated things is that the insurance cover for the players elapsed at the end of December last year.”.
Odundo said the technicalities have already been addressed with the insurance firm and the players will get treated with the a likely recovery period of up to five months. Odundo confirmed Kenya Simbas salaries had been paid, although match fees still had to be sorted out.”They also need to be sincere since we have paid their salaries and we shall offset their allowances immediately we get funds. As we said earlier, the Union is experiencing a financial crunch,” added Odundo.
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Comments on RugbyPass
12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
31 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
31 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
62 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
31 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
4 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
11 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
62 Go to comments