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'You almost sound bitter': Pari Pari Parkinson on injuries and All Blacks

By Sam Smith
(Photo by Teaukura Moetaua/Getty Images)

Pari Pari Parkinson is hoping to be back in action sooner than expected after suffering a major injury in the late stages of this year’s NPC.

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The Highlanders and Tasman lock copped some friendly fire in the final round of the regular season, with flanker Anton Segner colliding with Parkinson’s leg in a tackle and leaving the towering second-rower in serious discomfort on the floor.

“Anton swung round the tackle on Pete [Umaga-Jensen] and when he hit my knee, I felt everything crunch and I looked down and I could see my leg sticking out from underneath his body and though ‘Na, that’s no good’,” Parkinson told former Highlanders utility back James Marshall on the latest episode of his What A Lad podcast.

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The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

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The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

“I was trying to tell doc but all that came out was [noises]. Nothing you could do anything with.”

Almost immediately, Parkinson knew he wasn’t likely to be back on the park anytime soon, with the lumbering 25-year-old unable to walk off the field without support.

“I tried to put my weight on [some support staff] to walk off, because I knew everything was gone [after] I saw my foot out on an angle. The doc and stuff were just like ‘Mate, you can’t put your body weight on us, we can’t carry you.’

“After I got up, I didn’t want to lie back down [and ask for the stretcher] … Too much pride, can’t let my ego be damaged.”

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Once off the field and into the hospital, the diagnosis was grim.

“All the ligaments [were damaged], the ACL, PCL, MCL, damaged the meniscus,” said Parkinson. “[The doctor] ran me through all that. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t doing much listening, I was kind of like ‘I know it’s bad, I know you can fix it, I’ve got faith in you, you do your thing’.

“Went into day surgery and then woke up and it was all new. I was still on morphine though so I started being a hero … I thought I was the man walking around on my leg right after my surgery and the nurses were like ‘No, don’t do that, get back in the bed, you clown’.”

While the initial prognosis was grim, Parkinson is hopeful that he can’t fast-track his way back onto the pitch in time for next year’s NPC season, which will likely kick off around September.

“[The surgeon] told me about 12 months and I was like ‘There’s no chance, I’m not doing that, I’m not taking 12 months, that’s just silly’. I’m hoping nine; hopefully, I’ll be back for next Tassie season, fingers crossed.”

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The multi-ligament rupture is the latest in a long line of serious injuries that Parkinson has endured in his professional career to date, with a serious foot injury keeping him out of much of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Many have touted the 2.04m, 130kg lock as a future All Black but the ongoing injuries have thwarted Parkinson’s chances and putting together a long run of matches in order to impress the selectors.

Parkinson revealed that although he’s had minimal communication from the All Blacks, he was told this year to prepare in case he was called in for the end-of-year tour late in the season.

“There wasn’t really any comms. They told me to get vaccinated, just in case. I don’t know how close, they were more just like ‘There’s a chance’. Probably just did it [to get me vaccinated]. Other than that, there wasn’t much comms and I didn’t expect there would be because I haven’t had comms previously.

“It’s a weird topic to talk about because you almost sound bitter when you address it. It’s always been my mindset since I was about 16: unless it’s right in front of you, don’t worry about it. Because I can’t control what the selectors do, to pick me, so it’s like why worry about a team I’m not in? That’s sort of the way I go about it … It’s not something that’s on my plate at the moment.”

While Parkinson’s latest injury is another setback, he’s confident he can get himself back into top shape next year.

“I’ve done this before, a long rehab process, and I learnt from the last one so I can take those learnings into this one,” he said. “Granted, this is probably a bit more serious of an injury but at least now I know what the do’s and don’ts are.’

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J
Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

36 Go to comments
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