Al Charron will certainly not forget his final appearance in the Canadian jersey, the veteran having been left with a “swollen and very painful” mouth after a tackle saw him knocked out and stretchered from the field against Tonga.
Play was held up for seven minutes at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on Wednesday night as the forward was tended to, Charron eventually spending a couple of hours in hospital and having 16 stitches to his gums, upper mouth and lip.
“It wasn’t something that I wanted. I talked to the coaches before the game and said if the game is going well and we are winning you can take me off and put someone else on,” recalled Charron, who retires as Canada’s most capped player with 76 caps.
“The game was pretty tight at that point, so I was still on the field and … well I wish we had scored a few more points earlier because then I might not have asked for that ball inside and received the shot that I did. That is the benefit of hindsight.”
Charron is talking about the 70th minute tackle by Tonga fly half Pierre Hola that forced him off the field with Canada hanging on to a 14-7 lead, a score line which had improved to 24-7 by the time the final whistle went.
Walking off
“It is not the best of things to be carried off on a stretcher,” Charron told rugbyworldcup.com on the way to Sydney International Airport yesterday to bid farewell to his teammates – he is staying in Australia until the end of the Tournament.
“I actually asked when I got my bearings about me if I could just walk off and they said because there was the possibility of a neck injury they had to stretcher me off.
“I pretty much knew at that point that that was going to be it for me, so I kind of wanted to walk off, but of course people who work in the medical unit aren’t aware that it was my last game or why I was requesting to walk off.
“I was watching the game on TV [in the medical room] and so I was very happy [we won] because it is a bit of a drag trailing around the face I have now. It is all swollen and cut up and it makes it a little easier knowing we won, if we had lost I would be a little more bitter.
Injury not in the plan
“It is very painful! I’m told it is going to like this for a while and I might eventually need plastic surgery to sort this out probably.
“Spending another month here in Australia it is not really the way I envisaged it, I envisaged hopefully going to the quarter finals and getting the chance to tour around Australia without the burden of an injury.
“It took a while to get here as it was and to carry this around and to be forced to eat out of the side of my mouth and drink out of the side of my mouth isn’t really enjoying yourself in Australia like I wanted.”
The fact that Charron was even able to take his place in the Canadian squad for his fourth Rugby World Cup, equalling the record of former teammate Gareth Rees, was an achievement in itself.
Remarkable recovery
For Charron, who at 37 was the oldest player at Rugby World Cup 2003, only underwent a complete major reconstruction – ACL, NCL and meniscus – of his right knee on 8 June and was given a four to six month rehabilitation time frame.
Canada initially named a 31 man for the Tournament to give their inspirational captain every opportunity to recover, Charron taking his place and appearing in their opening Pool D match against Wales.
“I am very fortunate. I owe a lot to a lot of people to get me here, the surgeon, physios, my family to assist me and support me in trying to achieve that goal,” admitted Charron, whose side maintained their record of winning a game at every Rugby World Cup to date by beating Tonga.
“I am happy to have made it, I would just have liked to have been able to play at what I consider my usual standard of play, but whether or not I can blame that on my knee or my advancing age I can’t say.
“I took the field and gave it my best like ever other player in Canada and unfortunately it just wasn’t good enough to get us to advance to the quarter finals.”
Moving back
What then does the future hold for Charron, who played 12 matches across his four Rugby World Cups?
“I am finished playing for Canada, that is it for me, but I certainly hope to stay in [the game in] some way and certainly play for fun for my club back home … but not in my forwards position,” explained Charron.
“I hope to play for the third or fourth side playing in the backs, scrum half or fly half or something like that, just have a bit of a laugh and play some non serious rugby ... if my body can take it.
“My body is pretty beat up right now, I struggled to get through these games. I feel very much like a 37 year old man with 65 year old legs, so I have got a lot of joy out of playing rugby, but I have also suffered a bit as far as injuries are concerned.”