Kiwis vs Kangaroos: Kieran Foran defies sporting logic to extend international rugby league career
By all sporting logic, Kieran Foran should not be taking the field for the Kiwis this weekend.
His international career seemed over in 2018, after he disappeared from view for a couple of seasons, followingwell-publicised physical and personal problems. It looked finished again in 2019 when he suffered a horrific shoulder injury three minutes into his Kiwis’ comeback.
He made it back and the 33-year-old is the ultimate survivor but Foran was long odds to be part of the New Zealand set-up this season. It wasn’t down to form – as his commitment and professionalism is unquestioned – but because of an awful run of injuries at the Titans, that would have most people dying for a rest.
“People would have been surprised that I made myself available, but it is never an option for me, not an option to say no,” Foran told the Herald.
“It just doesn’t feel right, where I am at in my career and what I have gone through. I’m probably making up for lost time, a burning desire to achieve and leave my mark before it is too late.”
Still, this year seemed a bridge too far. He battled a knee issue from the first game of the season, then tore his calf in round four. Foran came back ahead of schedule – only missing one match – before an agonising toe injury in round nine.
“That was one of the most painful of my career because it is your foot,” Foran said.
He ruptured the plantar plate – the ligament that connects the toes – under his second digit. Season-ending surgery is the usual solution.
“I certainly wasn’t going to do that and because it was my second toe it was decided we could potentially manage it through,” Foran said.
“I needled it for a number of games, basically numbing my foot. That meant I was running slightly different and then I ended up getting stress fractures through my foot.”
Foran eventually succumbed, missing four weeks, though eight weeks was recommended for it to heal completely.
“I missed a month to let the stress fractures subside and the planter plate scar up a little bit more.”
Just as he started to get on top of the foot pain, Foran copped a nasty sternum injury, which affected him for the last three games of the season. Despite everything, he still managed 20 matches for his new club.
“I signed at the Titans to deliver,” says Foran. “I didn’t want to go up there and not be out on the field contributing.”
After all that, no one would have begrudged Foran putting his feet up for a few months. That crossed his mind – but he didn’t take much persuading when Maguire called a few weeks ago.
“I told Foz the situation and he said ‘I’m in,” recalled Maguire. “It wasn’t long.”
To increase the challenge, Foran will be used as hooker in the absence of Brandon Smith and Jeremy-Marshall King. Across 282 NRL games, it’s a position he has never played, though he had some dummy half experience at last year’s World Cup.
“We are obviously down on troops [there],” Foran said, who got through an hour in the 50-0 win over Samoa last weekend. “I enjoy getting in amongst it with my physicality. I’m not a natural nine but it’s a role I can do.”
It will be a formidable test in Melbourne against the twin Kangaroos dummy half threat of Ben Hunt and Harry Grant but he won’t die wondering.
He has spent most of his life in Australia – after the family emigrated when he was 10 years old – but has never forgotten his roots, playing for Ellerslie Eagles and watching the Kiwis on television. That has fuelled him through a 14-year international career, accumulating 29 tests.
“It’s everything to me,” Foran said of wearing the silver fern. “This is my childhood dream, to get the opportunity to represent everything that I stand for. I will do everything that I can to leave my mark on this group and keep trying to play to the standard that I know I can.”
Foran was a precocious talent. He made his international debut in 2009, a few months after his 19th birthday, after nine first-grade games for Manly.
“‘Mooks’ [Stephen Kearney] called me and wanted to bring a few young guys into that Four Nations squad,” Foran said.
His first test was at centre, after clubmate Steve Matai was ruled out for the semifinal against England at Huddersfield.
“It wasn’t the greatest debut,” admits Foran. “I got found out a couple of times but nonetheless a game I will never forget, one of the proudest moments of my career.”
He soon became a fixture. Foran played every match at the 2013 World Cup and was superb during the 2014 Four Nations triumph, which included back-to-back victories over the Kangaroos. After another win in the 2015 Anzac test, he featured in just one test over the next four years, before he returned for the first test against Great Britain in 2019.
That day at Eden Park is a defining memory, as Foran dislocated his shoulder in the third set of the match.
“I’ll never forget being in tears in the sheds, basically broken emotionally,” Foran said. “I felt like I had worked that hard to get back there and it was taken from me again.”
“I had two options. Walk away and accept defeat or find a way to fight my way back and that is probably the thing I am most proud of throughout my career, the way I have refused to lie down. I could have walked away a number of times and accepted that it is not for me but I know there is more in the tank. There is always more in the tank.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. He has also reported on the Warriors and NRL for more than a decade.
