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Thread: Nonu earns his opposite's respect with gesture

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    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
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    Nonu earns his opposite's respect with gesture

    TOBY ROBSON
    Last updated 09:11 15/09/2014



    Ma'a Nonu has won the respect and admiration of his South African opposite, plus the support of All Blacks fans, after the second five-eighth thought of his rival in a moment of great pain.

    The All Black showed his class during Saturday's Rugby Championship match at Westpac Stadium while en route to hospital with a broken forearm.

    Nonu's test, and season, were over, but as the ambulance doors swung open to take the 32-year-old across town to Wellington Hospital, Nonu thought not of his misfortune and considerable pain.

    Instead, he pulled off his No 12 jersey and instructed his handlers to take it to the opposition changing room where it could be collected by de Villiers after he completed his 100th test for the Springboks.

    The star midfielder had a steel plate inserted in his arm yesterday morning and has since thanked fans and well-wishers for messages of support on Twitter.

    Support for the All Blacks star had a global flavour on Twitter with messages from far and wide.

    One well-wisher, just_a_bit_of_fun posted on Twitter "oh man get well soon. God is with you. All my support from Argentina"

    Another, laborde frederic wrote: "bon retablissement et bon courage."

    The Wellingtonian has had his share of controversy over the years, but his gesture on Saturday night was one of real class, an ideal of sportsmanship perfectly summed up by de Villiers after the match.

    "We make it as tough as possible on the field and there will be some shots away from the camera, in the rucks, and hard tackles and words said . . . but as soon as we walk off the field we can see that respect and camaraderie," he said.

    "I've played him and Conrad [Smith] so many times and the great thing was when I got back to the changing room Ma'a had already given his jersey to me as well, even though he went to the hospital.

    "That just shows it's a professional sport and we play as hard as we can, but these two teams are able to be gentlemen off the field and enjoy each other's company. That to me is more important than the game itself."

    Earlier, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw had made a special post-match presentation to De Villiers, and to wing Bryan Habana, who had played his 100th test a week prior against Australia.

    Nonu's unselfish act, his jersey held personal meaning as he and Smith equalled the world record for the most tests together as a midfield combination, came after he had played on with his broken bone for more than 10 minutes.

    "He said to me immediately after it happened, ‘I think I've broken my forearm'," Smith said. "I probably was aware of our shortage [of midfield cover] on the bench and said, ‘you'll be right' and hoped he'd carry on, but it was pretty obvious from then on.

    "He did play on, I thought it was more than 10 minutes. He played a fair bit after that, but you can just tell with someone you've played with quite a lot[when] they're not quite right. I wasn't surprised at halftime when the docs were able to look at it and took him off."

    Men playing on with serious injury is part of All Black folklore, but the chapter Nonu has added will not be about anything he did on the rugby field.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/a...t-with-gesture

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    His stocks just went up in my humble opinion, a very cool gesture.

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    (Previously WFDS) WFDom's Avatar
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    Good to see him do something positive, instead of the usual negative

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    Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!

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    I'm trying to work out why giving his jersey was so important.

    have i missed something?

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    Legend Contributor blueandblack's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by palitu View Post
    I'm trying to work out why giving his jersey was so important.

    have i missed something?
    acknowledging a milestone by his opposite number

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    Veteran Contributor hertryk's Avatar
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    The All Blacks (according to my knowledge and reading! ) do not consider their All Black jumpers as their own...they are only custodians..they NEVER give them away because of that reason!

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    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by palitu View Post
    I'm trying to work out why giving his jersey was so important.

    have i missed something?
    There is a long forgotten tradition of exchanging jerseys after the match, you'd have to look at some very old footage to see it though.

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    C'mon the

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