All Blacks hooker Dane Coles admits he almost hung up his boots but has persevered through his injury troubles because of his love for the game.
Coles was named in Steve Hansen’s squad for the Rugby Championship on Monday despite only being expected to return in the latter stages of the tournament as he continues his recovery from a ruptured ACL suffered against France last November.
This, after, having played only 11 games in 2017 due to concussion problems. All this led to the 31-year-old questioning whether it was really worth carrying on, but he says his love for the game and his wife and two children have given him the strength to battle on.
“I’ve had a pretty frustrating couple of years,” the Hurricanes hooker told Radio Sport on Wednesday.
“You have times where you’re like, ‘Is this really worth it?’ or ‘Is this going to come right?’”
“I think the drive, especially for me of getting back out there playing for the All Blacks or playing for the Hurricanes, has been a massive motivation,” he added. “Just playing rugby again. I love the game.
“I didn’t want the injury to determine my outcome I wanted, leaving on my own terms I suppose.
“You have really good weeks and you go ‘I’m making good progress’, then I had the calf stuff and you just find yourself in this routine of ‘I’m not really getting anywhere’ because I was so close, but then again I was so far.
“You’ve just got to find a way to keep motivated. I’m lucky cause I’ve got kids and if I’ve been frustrated at training I can go home and decompress and be a dad.
“Just getting away from the rugby side of things and just being normal really helps, so when I come to training I’m 100 per cent focused on doing my running or my weights.
“You find ways to get yourself back on track and to be patient. I don’t want to rush these things because if I rush that might be me done, or another nine months on the sideline.”