Invercargill Physio In Hot Demand at Rugby Sevens
New Zealand has continued to dominate all aspects on rugby on the world stage and the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens is no exception.
While the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s 7s teams took out the win at the San Francisco tournament, the competition’s referees were all under the watchful eye of their Southland-based physiotherapist Karl McDonald.
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The elite sports physiotherapist, of Sportsmed Physio, touched back down in Invercargill today (July 24), somewhat jetlagged but ‘pumped to get back into his work with the Stags’.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens marks the beginning of an exciting step in McDonald’s career, with it having been an induction to his new role as the Men’s Sevens Referee Physiotherapist/Trainer on the World Sevens circuit.
“I think people forget that the referees are just as prone to injury and strain as the players, so it’s important they’re looked after as well. This week has given me a real appreciation as to how hard they work on not only their physical but also their technical games.” McDonald said the only down side of being at the event was not being sideline on the weekend to watch his beloved Marist win the Galbraith Shield. He volunteers his time to the club he played at as a junior and despite having been all over the globe taking care of some of the best rugby and league players in the world he states that “being at Marist and looking after the boys at Miller street provides me with the greatest pleasure”.
The new role comes with a busy schedule, involving five, two-week blocks of multi-country tournaments throughout the year in:
- Dubai and Cape Town
- Hamilton and Sydney
- Hong King and Singapore
- Las Vegas and Vancouver
- London and Paris
McDonald will also be monitoring and collaborating with the medical, strengtand conditioning staff of the referees from their respective home countries between tournaments.
McDonald’s contact goes through to the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
“It’s such a privilege to work with athletes of such a high standard and I’m really looking forward to the coming tournaments,” he said.
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