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Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has revealed that he "all but blacked out" while leading the haka in the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Ireland - and then played in the semifinal against England on a torn calf muscle.
In what he called 'the strangest experience' of his career, Read divulged that he completely lost his way during the pre-match challenge against Ireland, causing confusion with fellow haka leader TJ Perenara.
Read pondered whether the importance and excitement of the match was the cause for his temporary blunder.
"To illustrate just how fired up I was, I lined up to lead the haka with TJ and all but blacked out," Read wrote in his autobiography Straight Eight.
"'Taringa whakarongo…' was all that would come out. At that exact moment, I lost all thought and physical response. There was no 'Kia rite! Kia rite! Kia mau!' I remember seeing TJ looking at me as I regathered myself. It felt like an age had passed by the time I snapped back to reality. 'Kia whakawhenua au i ahau!' It was the strangest experience of my career.
As the All Blacks started walking towards the Irish team at the start of the Kapa o pango war cry, Ireland fans in the stadium began singing traditional folk song The Fields Of Athenry.
It was written at the time that "the song was sung so loud inside the stadium that All Blacks players appeared to lose their connection with Perenara, appearing out of sync at times" – though after Read's revelation, perhaps it was he, not the Irish fans, who were to blame for that.
Kieran Read (eventually) helps lead the haka against Ireland. Photo / Getty
While the All Blacks' World Cup campaign would end in heartbreak against England, Read still felt the eventual 46-14 quarter-final victory was one of the best and most rewarding of his long international career.
"Our rivalry with the Irish had grown exponentially since their breakthrough victory in Chicago in 2016, and their follow-up win in Dublin two years later. We wanted to crush them so badly. After the Italian cancellation we trained as well as I can remember, and we hit game day with a level of focus that was awe-inspiring for me as a captain.
"It was one of the sweetest victories of my career."
However, during the game, Read had torn his calf, revealing the full extent of the injury for the first time in his book.
Read missed training in the build-up to the semifinal with the calf injury, but it was downplayed by the All Blacks, who merely claimed it was a tight calf and that Read would be good to go for the semifinal.
Sure enough, he was, and surprisingly, Read wrote that "my calf, ironically, had been fine in the match". He then went on to play in the bronze-medal win over Wales a week later as well.
All Blacks captain Kieran Read hunched over after losing to England. Photo / Mark Mitchell
However, Read wrote that the injury was one of the many "What if's?" that came from the semifinal defeat.
"What if I had been able to train with the team that week instead of watching from the sideline? What if I had been out there to offer a little more direction, or reassurance, or assistance?"
