The shoulder injury that saved Henry Taefu’s life
On Friday night, 23-year-old Henry Taefu wore the No.12 jersey for the Reds against the Chiefs in his third Super Rugby game. Away from Rugby Henry’s fiancée Sarah is due to give birth to the couple’s first child within a fortnight; a baby girl.
Life is good for the former Australian U20s star, however if it wasn’t for a shoulder injury suffered at the World Rugby U20s Championship in France back in 2013 he might not have lived much past his 21st birthday.
Taefu was sent home from the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury, and booked in for a reconstruction in a Brisbane hospital, but it was only when he went under the knife that the doctors made a startling discovery.
“I’d always struggled with my fitness and had lots of issues with that without necessarily understanding why,” Taefu, who spent his first two years after school in the Parramatta Eels academy before returning to Rugby, told RUPA.
“When I was under the knife, the Doctors noted that my blood pressure was around 250; it should normally be between 120 and 130. They went looking, and they found that I had an adrenal gland tumour the size of a tennis ball!
“It meant I was pumping more adrenaline than I was meant to, and my heart rate and blood pressure were far higher than they’re meant to be. They said that I was very lucky as a lot of people who have tumours like this would die during surgery, but fortunately my Rugby fitness helped my body fight against it.
“A lot of athletes who pass away suddenly during physical activity have tumours like this, and the Doctors don’t discover the tumours until post-mortem, so I was very lucky.”
Indeed he was, however the success that followed for Taefu in 2014, 2015 and this year was not the result of luck; it was the result of sheer hard work, and taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship (NRC) when it was first introduced in 2014.
“I had ten months off footy after the tumour was removed, and then I played my best year of Club Rugby for Sunnybank in 2014 and was feeling really fit and healthy,” Taefu said. “Brain Melrose was the Greater Sydney Rams coach at the time, and he called and offered me the chance to play in the NRC.”
Taefu scored three tries in five starts for the Rams before returning to Brisbane and continuing to impress for Sunnybank, and when 2015 rolled out defending NRC champions Brisbane City rewarded that strong form with a place in Nick Stiles’ squad.
“I was actually in the (now defunct) Australian National Academy in 2013 when I was in the U20s program,” Taefu explained. “Jake McIntyre, Samu Kerevi, Chris Kuridrani and Jamie-Jerry Taulagi were all in the backline with me, so when I got the call-up for Brisbane City there were a lot of familiar faces and combinations.
“Jake also plays for Sunnybank, so with him being flyhalf and me inside centre we knew each other’s games well. I started the season on the bench with Karmichael Hunt starting at inside centre, but luckily I forced my way into the team and he moved to fullback.”
Taefu played all ten games for Brisbane City as they went back-to-back to secure the 2015 premiership, starting eight in a row after coming off the bench in the season opener, and was offered a training contract by the Reds for the 2016 Super Rugby season.
With Wallaby Ben Tapuai moving to the Western Force and other midfield options James O’Connor and Lachlan Turner departing for overseas, as well as the late arrival of Ayumu Goromaru meaning Hunt fulfilled fullback duties over pre-season, an opportunity for Taefu to stake a genuine claim presented itself; and he grasped it with both hands.
“I had a really good pre-season and played the games against the Crusaders and Brumbies and then I was fortunate to get a start in Round One in the twelve jersey,” Taefu said.
“I didn’t think it would happen and certainly not so quickly, but I knew that if I trained hard and had a good pre-season that I was good enough to get a game. The whole week leading into Round One was a dream come true, and my partner (Sarah) came down to Sydney as well as my dad and my brother; I’ll always remember that week.”
It will come as no surprise, however, that a man accustomed to having to do things the hard way was again struck down by misfortune. An ankle injury and defeat to the Waratahs soured his debut and kept him out of action for ten weeks, only returning to Super Rugby action in last weekend’s encouraging loss to the Brumbies in Canberra.
Taefu made his Super Rugby home debut on Friday night, and his patience isn’t wearing thin despite the constant setbacks he’s endured; this is a man who is in it for the long haul, and looking forward to playing in a young side that also includes the likes of Kuridrani, Matt Mafi, Campbell Magnay, James and Jack Tuttle and Taniela Tupou.
“I will be back at the Reds next year, so the next few weeks is an opportunity for myself and a lot of the younger guys at the Club who are being picked to play our best footy and gather experience for next season,” he explained.
“Hopefully I can run around again with Brisbane City in the NRC, and our young guys can continue to develop and build combinations in the last two Super Rugby games and then in the NRC.”
Away from Rugby, the focus is on the impending arrival. Henry and Sarah’s little girl will join an increasing squad of baby girls in Queensland, and Taefu said he’s been asking for plenty of parenting advice.
“I’m close with Junior Laloifi as he is a Sunnybank boy and lives just down the road, so I’ve spoken to him a lot about being a new dad,” Taefu said. “He’s been giving me some tips and told me I’m not going to get much sleep!
“Kane (Douglas) is a new dad as well with a little girl and then Karmichael has three girls and Saia (Fainga’a) has a little girl as well; the Queensland women’s teams are already very strong in Rugby, but in a few more years there might be a whole Women’s Rugby Sevens team ready to go just from Reds players’ children!”