A month before Siokapesi Palu was to fly to England for the women’s Rugby World Cup, the Wallaroos captain was in Sydney’s North Shore Private Hospital with her right foot in a cast.
On July 12 in Wellington, Palu’s leg was trapped under a tackle. She was on her back and unable to free herself; her body convulsing in pain. In the change rooms at half-time, the initial diagnosis came through, and her chances of playing in the World Cup weren’t great.
Siokapesi Palu at Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium ahead of her debut on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
“I just bawled my eyes out crying … I just knew my hopes of a World Cup were very slim,” the Wallaroos captain said.
Scans showed a complete tear of the Lisfranc joint – an injury that usually sees players sidelined for three months. It should have ruled Palu out of the tournament.
The squadleft Australia on August 11 without her. Three days later, she was told she’d be allowed to join up with them.
Last Saturday, just seven weeks after surgery, she made her tournament debut in Brighton for the last game of the group stage. She captained the Wallaroos in front of 30,443 spectators (enough for the stadium to run out of beer) and royalty (Catherine, Princess of Wales).
“Sometimes I don’t have words to explain it because personally, I don’t know how I was able to defeat the odds that were against me,” she said.
Others weren’t as lucky. In the same game in Wellington in July, teammate and Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick left the field with a fractured fibula and ruptured syndesmosis. Although there had been hope she’d recover in time for the World Cup, on the day the team was set to travel to England, Caslick said she wouldn’t be on the plane.
