All Blacks scrum-half admits to playing injured
New Zealand scrum-half Piri Weepu has admitted to injuring himself during the All Blacks warm-up prior to the Rugby World Cup final against France.
Although the 28-year-old was far from 100% fit he still took to the field against the French playing through the pain barrier to help his country become world champions for only the second time despite squandering eight points during the game
Weepu missed two penalties and a conversion after tweaking his groin muscle as the teams completed their final warm-up routines and admits he wasn’t ready to come off when he was subbed in the 50th minute.
“I wasn’t ready to come off,” he said.
“I had a tweak of my groin before the game started and I guess the coaches were only looking out for what was best for the team.”
The All Blacks had fourth-choice pivot Stephen Donald to thank for kicking them to an 8-7 victory over France and their first Rugby World Cup since 1987
Injuries did threaten to derail their ambitions after losing three key players for the final with world-leading stand-off Dan Carter and his back-up Colin Slade unable to take to the field at Eden Park with third choice Aaron Cruden also succumbing to a knee injury 34 minutes into the contest.
