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Coetzee reveals All Blacks’ ‘unbelievable’ gesture for injured Namibia centre
By Finn Morton
Namibia head coach Allister Coetzee has revealed an “unbelievable” gesture from the All Blacks following the World Cup-ending ankle injury to inside centre Le Roux Malan.
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Both the All Blacks and Namibia paused to clap the injured midfielder off the field at Stade de Toulouse – an action that seemed to last for the better part of a minute, if not longer.
Thousands of fans joined in on Friday night, and plenty more expressed their support for Malan on social media.
New Zealand coach Ian Foster said the All Blacks’ thoughts were with Malan after the Test, and captain Ardie Savea later spoke about the “traditional rugby values” shared between the nations.
But the All Blacks’ kindness, respect and sportsmanship didn’t stop there. The New Zealanders signed a jersey and gifted it to the Namibia No. 12.
“What was actually very good, and I hope it will help in a way, is the gesture from the All Blacks to hand him a signed jersey, a number 12 jersey signed by the whole team,” Coetzee said on Saturday.
“It says a lot about the sportsmanship of this World Cup, it’s a good gesture from the All Blacks.
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“That is not just saying the ethos and the culture and the values of rugby, but actually living and feeling it. That to me is unbelievable of the All Blacks to do something like that.”
In more good news, coach Coetzee also confirmed that Malan has undergone a successful surgery. Malan underwent surgery on Friday night for both a fracture and dislocation.
With two matches to play in their Rugby World Cup campaign, Namibia will replace Malan with another outside back in the coming days.
“The sooner they’ve done the operation, the better for his recovery and also for the season ahead. Very successful operation that he had, according to the doctor.
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“I think he’s here until Monday or Tuesday, and then he’ll fly out.
“We will make the call shortly. It will be an outside back. We’ve got a couple of names, that’s up for discussion now in our coaches meeting.”