Rugby league legend and amputee Nikau pushes play

Getting out of hospital quicker convinced rugby league legend Tawera Nikau to cut off his leg.
After a motorcycle accident in 2003 Nikau's doctor said the bad news of his injuries would mean numerous operations and remaining in hospital for three years to save his leg. This was opposed to the "good news", which was amputating his leg the day after and being discharged from hospital in two weeks.
"I was sick of hospital already and couldn't think of anything worse than being there for three years so I told the doctor to chop it."
Nikau was speaking to Opaki School pupils yesterday as part of his endorsement of push play activity, after his guest speaker appearance at the Wairarapa secondary school sports presentations on Wednesday night.
For a man who dedicated 15 years of his life to professional rugby league, losing a leg hasn't slowed him down.
"I've got five different legs that I use for different things and I'm still able to go pig hunting, diving, fishing and riding so it hasn't stopped me doing the things I love.
"The day I got out of hospital I jumped on my son's motocross bike and went for a ride. "The only problem I had was when I went round a corner and put my leg out to help, forgetting I didn't have it anymore and by the time I realised I'd fallen off."
Nikau said his carbon fibre leg is faster than his original legs and with the spring he gets from it he should be selected for the New Zealand league team. "I think I might get a chance to play on the wing for New Zealand because they're not going well at all at the moment and this new leg is pretty fast."
Nikau spent most of his more than 500-test career for New Zealand as a loose forward and won his first championship title playing for Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
"We won the title in 1999 which was the year before the Sydney Olympics. We were the first teams to play in the new stadium built especially for the Olympics and we got a record crowd of 109,000 people."
Nikau says he has always been fit and healthy and accepted the invitation to endorse push play activity to remind everyone else to stay fit for themselves and their family.
"I have two grandchildren now so being a grandad has made me realise I want to be around as long as possible to see them grow up and that means staying healthy."
The best part of losing a leg is the orange disabled sticker that comes with it, he said.
"Now I get to park in the spots right outside the shop and they're really big which is great for my truck I drive because it doesn't fit in normal parks anyway."
Nikau said he understands the pressure the New Zealand rugby league team is feeling being away from home and losing games at the moment.
"You feel like you've got the weight of the nation on your shoulders and at the moment with all the losses we've had in yachting, cricket and rugby, it looks like we're relying on the women to bring home the netball gold."
Nikau said the state of New Zealand's league is disappointing and shows a lack of leadership.
"The worst next nightmare would be losing to France," he said.
"The boys are going through a transition period at the moment with a lot of young guys in the team and they're just losing too many points through their bad defence."