Chiefs star Charmaine I'M BACK AND UNSTOPPABLE

Giving birth to her daughter miraculously fixed the rugby legend's injury

- Rebekah Hebenton

Walking out onto the rugby field at the start of a new season is a big moment for any player, but none more so than Charmaine Smith. After coming back from being medically retired in 2020, the mum-of-one is making the most of her second chance.

“Every time I go to a training or I have to go for a run in the rain, I think, ‘This is so cool that I’m able to do this,’ because I know what it feels like to not have it,” tells the Black Fern. “My biggest goal is to show my daughter that she can be anything she wants to be. It’s okay to fail, as long as you’ve tried as hard as you can.”

At the start of 2020, Charmaine was experiencing some minor lower back pain. She didn’t think it was anything major, but went to her doctor to get a scan just in case. By chance, they decided to scan her whole spine and while there was nothing wrong with her lower back, a bulging disc in her neck had doctors very concerned.

When the nation was plunged into level four lockdown, Charmaine spent the next few months in limbo, waiting to get an appointment with a specialist to find out if her rugby career was over.

In June, she finally had the tests she needed and received the news she dreaded to hear – the bulging disk was pressing on her spinal cord and there was no surgical option to fix it. Just three years after she had helped the Black Ferns to World Cup victory, she was forced to retire.