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All Blacks star reveals seven-month battle through injury

By Online Editors
New Zealand lock Sam Whitelock and head coach Steve Hansen. Photo / Getty Images

All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock’s 2018 season may have been his most impressive campaign to date.

Whitelock captained the Crusaders to a second consecutive Super Rugby title, brought up 100 test caps and led the All Blacks on four occassions.

While his 2018 resume is already incredibly impressive, its made even more impressive after Whitelock revealed to The New Zealand Herald that he has spent the past seven months playing through injury.

“I’ve been dealing with a groin, a stomach tear, so the middle part of the season, I haven’t been able to run as fast as I would like,” Whitelock told the Herald.

“That’s been pretty much hanging round since April and just starting to go away. There was a big chunk of trying to look after that, which compromises training, but I’m feeling pretty good energy-wise.

“It was pretty frustrating not being able to hit top speed for a big chunk of the season but it’s been a great year, a challenging year.

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“It’s one of those things as a rugby player. You either have two kinds of injuries: one you can’t play and the other where it just hurts. Being a tight forward, that’s just the way it is. There’s always something that’s sore, and you’ve got to put it to one side and deal with it.”

Whitelock has appeared in all but one test for the All Blacks this year – he was omitted for their clash with Japan – and has played 801 of a possible 880 minutes for the side this year.

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Saturday will see Whitelock meet the side he made his international debut against in 2010 when the All Blacks meet Ireland in Dublin.

Since his debut, Whitelock has appeared in 107 tests and is set to bring up 50 starts with second row partner Brodie Retallick this weekend.

In other news:
 

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Sam T 1 hours ago
Jake White: Let me clear up some things

I remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.

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Ed the Duck 8 hours ago
How Leinster neutralised 'long-in-the-tooth' La Rochelle

Hey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂

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