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Come Fan with UsSaturday, June 20, 2026

This rugby player kept playing for 30 minutes with a ‘smashed testicle’

This guy’s nuts.

Mitre 10 Cup Rd 7 - Auckland v Otago
Mitre 10 Cup Rd 7 - Auckland v Otago
Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images
James Dator
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.

New Zealand rugby player Jona Nareki went above and beyond to keep his team in the game during Otago’s match against Waikato over the weekend. Nareki took a low blow in the 59th minute, and went on to play another half-hour with what can only be described as a “smashed testicle.”

Nareki was struck below the belt and jogged off the field for attention, but with Otago already suffering several injuries the team couldn’t afford to have him off as well. The injury was so severe that Nareki needed surgery the following morning to repair the injury, but Otago coach Ben Herring said his player was in good spirits considering, yanno, he had his testicle smashed.

“He came off, but when there were injuries in the game, he had to come on with his smashed testicle. If you know Jona, he’s a particularly buoyant fella, but the comment was, ‘don’t worry mate, it’s just a small operation’,” Herring told RadioLive.

Now, I’m no doctor, but I reckon a doctor would advise against playing with a testicular injury, particularly one in which said testicle is paired with the world “smashed.” Let’s pause for a second here — there are really only two things that are good when preceded by the word.

  1. Smashed record.
  2. Smashed potato.

That’s it. Those are the two. Smashed testicles? No thank you. Herring explained that he knows it happened, but not necessarily how.

“It was just a direct blow on the bulls-eye,” Herring said. “I don’t know who it was and he probably doesn’t either.

This has been your weekly reminder that rugby players are nuts. I don’t apologize for that pun.

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