Rugby league: New Zealand Warriors star Chanel Harris-Tavita reveals he played through gruesome mid-game injury

Chanel Harris-Tavita. Photo / Photosport

It has been revealed that New Zealand Warriors playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita played over 45 minutes of his team's loss to the Melbourne Storm on Monday with a ruptured testicle.

After what has been described as one of the toughest performances of the 2022 NRL season, Harris-Tavita has already had surgery for the injury and now faces three to four weeks on the sidelines to recover.

The gruesome injury occured when fellow teammate Josh Curran's knee slammed into Harris-Tavita's groin as they combined to stop Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen scoring in the final minutes of the first half.

Long-time physiotherapist and NRL injury analyst Brien Seeney described Harris-Tavita's effort to play through the injury as "the toughest effort of 2022" and expected the Warriors star to have been in considerable pain.

We’ve got the toughest effort of 2022 - Chanel Harris Tavita played 45 minutes after rupturing his testicle in this tackle. Has since required surgery, will require 3-4 weeks recovery. Pain obviously off the charts - thankfully early treatment = minimal risk of complications pic.twitter.com/Oy9peolhme

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) April 28, 2022

After almost two minutes being attended to on the Warriors' goal-line, Harris-Tavita re-joined his team's defensive line and went on to play the full 80 minutes while never missing a tackle in what was a record loss for the club.

Harris-Tavita's injury is a further setback for the Warriors side ahead of its round eight clash against Canberra on Saturday.

The team had already lost Curran and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to injury plus prop Aaron Pene to suspension.

With Kodi Nikorima also unavailable after a positive Covid test and offseason signing Ash Taylor out indefinitely, Shaun Johnson is the only fit established half left.

However, included on the extended bench this week is Christchurch-born 10-game North Queensland standoff Daejarn Asi who was signed on Tuesday, had his first training session with his new club on Thursday and is now in line for his debut on Saturday.