Warrington Wolves prop Paul Wood had to have a testicle removed after rupturing it in Saturday’s 26-18 Grand Final defeat by Leeds.
Brave: Paul Wood tackles Danny Maguire of Leeds during the Grand Final in which he sustained his horror injury
The 30 year-old, a father of two, played on despite the injury and made no
mention of it during post-match interviews.
He underwent surgery overnight and left hospital yesterday morning. “Just
coming out the hospital to go home,” Wood wrote on Twitter. “Seriously feel
like I’ve left something?”
<noframe>Twitter:
Paul Wood - Just coming out the hospital to go home... Seriously feel
like I've left something???</noframe>
The incident occurred a minute into the second half, when he received a knee
in the testicles from a Leeds player.
Despite the pain, he carried on until the final whistle, even speaking to
journalists in the dressing room afterwards without letting on.
It was injury added to insult for Warrington, who lost the double on the lush
Old Trafford turf.
The job now is to build on a season that brought them the Challenge Cup for the third time in four seasons.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” Lee Briers said when asked what the shortcomings were.
“This is the next step for us. Sometimes you need to feel some pain — and it is painful — and hopefully we can come back stronger.”
If defeat was agonising for Wood and the Wolves, this was the sweetest triumph for Leeds.
“They don’t want to leave,” said coach Brian McDermott as the team partied rowdily in their dressing room. “They want to stay in this moment forever.”
Against one wall, quietly and unfussily getting changed, was Kevin Sinfield, whose remarkable performance paved the road to triumph.
This was his sixth Super League Grand Final victory, and it may well have been the best of the lot.
The paradox of Sinfield is his calmness in the thick of the battle. The higher the stakes, the cooler he appears to get.
One of the more remarkable statistics of the play-offs is that Sinfield kicked 21 out of 21 goal attempts.
Here, his 14 points and indefatigable spirit, after a sickening blow to the head in the second half, proved the difference.
For the second year running, Leeds have fought their way through from fifth place in the table. “Leeds played really well,” Briers said. “They played smart rugby.”
The choice of words is apposite. Leeds are a smart team.
They timed their season to peak at the optimum moment and they were able to overcome the mental setback of twice going behind.
Is it any coincidence that a number of them have university degrees or are studying for one, including Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Jamie Peacock?
Can their coolness under fire be related to the fact that so many have degrees in sport science and are thus perfectly prepared for whatever they encounter?
“Hard work,” said Sinfield, who is starting a master’s degree this autumn.
“It’s all down to hard work. If you’re prepared to put the graft in, you’d like to think that at some stage it pays you back. People could say I’m quite boring as a sportsman, but I live my life like that.”
Yet this decorated golden generation may be nearer the end than the beginning.
“There’s going to come a point when some individuals will have to retire, and we’re mindful of that,” McDermott said.
“The squad’s going to go through a transition in the next two or three years, and the challenge for us is to make it as competitive as it is now.
“But I’ll be honest. How are we ever going to replace Kylie Leuluai, Jamie Peacock and Kevin Sinfield? The answer is you don’t.”
Source : The Telegraph
The job now is to build on a season that brought them the Challenge Cup for the third time in four seasons.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” Lee Briers said when asked what the shortcomings were.
“This is the next step for us. Sometimes you need to feel some pain — and it is painful — and hopefully we can come back stronger.”
If defeat was agonising for Wood and the Wolves, this was the sweetest triumph for Leeds.
“They don’t want to leave,” said coach Brian McDermott as the team partied rowdily in their dressing room. “They want to stay in this moment forever.”
Against one wall, quietly and unfussily getting changed, was Kevin Sinfield, whose remarkable performance paved the road to triumph.
This was his sixth Super League Grand Final victory, and it may well have been the best of the lot.
The paradox of Sinfield is his calmness in the thick of the battle. The higher the stakes, the cooler he appears to get.
One of the more remarkable statistics of the play-offs is that Sinfield kicked 21 out of 21 goal attempts.
Here, his 14 points and indefatigable spirit, after a sickening blow to the head in the second half, proved the difference.
For the second year running, Leeds have fought their way through from fifth place in the table. “Leeds played really well,” Briers said. “They played smart rugby.”
The choice of words is apposite. Leeds are a smart team.
They timed their season to peak at the optimum moment and they were able to overcome the mental setback of twice going behind.
Is it any coincidence that a number of them have university degrees or are studying for one, including Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Jamie Peacock?
Can their coolness under fire be related to the fact that so many have degrees in sport science and are thus perfectly prepared for whatever they encounter?
“Hard work,” said Sinfield, who is starting a master’s degree this autumn.
“It’s all down to hard work. If you’re prepared to put the graft in, you’d like to think that at some stage it pays you back. People could say I’m quite boring as a sportsman, but I live my life like that.”
Yet this decorated golden generation may be nearer the end than the beginning.
“There’s going to come a point when some individuals will have to retire, and we’re mindful of that,” McDermott said.
“The squad’s going to go through a transition in the next two or three years, and the challenge for us is to make it as competitive as it is now.
“But I’ll be honest. How are we ever going to replace Kylie Leuluai, Jamie Peacock and Kevin Sinfield? The answer is you don’t.”
Source : The Telegraph
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