Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force’s Kane Koteka makes the most long-awaited of returns against Crusaders

To say Kane Koteka’s return to rugby has been a long time coming is an understatement. When it came time to making his first Super Rugby appearance in 1050 days — against Crusaders at the weekend — the Western Force flanker spent so long out of the game he had forgotten his pre-game routine. The 31-year-old received a reduced 18-month ban for the unintentional use of a banned substance after cross-contamination from a glass saw him test positive to the drug Ostarine. Koteka returned to the club in August but injury set backs further delayed his comeback. “It was obviously a very long time away from the game so there were a lot of nerves coming into it, but it was a real special moment to get back out there, especially with this team and this group of men,” he said. “You definitely don’t take anything for granted - not that I did before - but I mean every opportunity counts, every moment counts, so just making the most with every moment that I got out there.” “I had really good support from family and friends and I just stayed ready, that’s all you can do when you are away from the environment.” The Nathan Sharpe medal-winner said he had to be honest with himself on the comeback trail and admitted it was hard to watch on. “It was a lot of self accountability, I did everything I could to put myself in the best position for when that moment did arise and I put myself in the best spot to do a good job,” Koteka said. “I wasn’t going out there to set the world on fire, all that was expected of me was to do my job for the team and that gave me reassurance if I just do my job the rest will take care of itself.” The Wests-Scarborough product made the most of his opportunity back finishing with a game-high 25 tackles in the 55-33 loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch. And while they went into the break 20-18 down any hopes of a maiden win in Canterbury was dashed in a four try flurry. “It was a very good first half and we just let ourselves down in about a 20-minute patch ... defensively we were probably losing too many in the ruck and creating those seams on the edge,” Koteka said. “The Crusaders have a really dangerous back three that can cut teams open and they made the most of those errors so we need to tidy up on them.” The eighth-placed Force will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak when they host Fijian Drua at HBF Park on Sunday and with four Wallabies likely return to the side Koteka is confident they can get the job done. “Drua like to throw the ball around, they’re a very physical team so I think if we fix up those defensive things that we spoke about this morning and cut off those offloads we’ll be right,” he said.

Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force’s Kane Koteka makes the most long-awaited of returns against Crusaders

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