Siokapesi Palu had surgery five weeks before the World Cup. She’s already back on the field

A month before Siokapesi Palu was to fly to England for the women’s Rugby World Cup, the Wallaroos captain was in Sydney’s North Shore Private Hospital with her right foot in a cast.

On July 12 in Wellington, Palu’s leg was trapped under a tackle. She was on her back and unable to free herself; her body convulsing in pain. In the change rooms at half-time, the initial diagnosis came through, and her chances of playing in the World Cup weren’t great.

“I just bawled my eyes out crying … I just knew my hopes of a World Cup were very slim,” the Wallaroos captain said.

Scans showed a complete tear of the Lisfranc joint – an injury that usually sees players sidelined for three months. It should have ruled Palu out of the tournament.

The squadleft Australia on August 11 without her. Three days later, she was told she’d be allowed to join up with them.

Last Saturday, just seven weeks after surgery, she made her tournament debut in Brighton for the last game of the group stage. She captained the Wallaroos in front of 30,443 spectators (enough for the stadium to run out of beer) and royalty (Catherine, Princess of Wales).

“Sometimes I don’t have words to explain it because personally, I don’t know how I was able to defeat the odds that were against me,” she said.

Others weren’t as lucky. In the same game in Wellington in July, teammate and Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick left the field with a fractured fibula and ruptured syndesmosis. Although there had been hope she’d recover in time for the World Cup, on the day the team was set to travel to England, Caslick said she wouldn’t be on the plane.

“Even though she’s [Caslick] not here physically, she’s played a huge part, as well as our other Wallaroos who’ve had a huge hand in getting us to disrupt a World Cup and getting us to where we are now,” Palu said.

Palu’s joy at regaining fitness in time for the latter stages of the tournament has been added to by the event itself.

“England have done so well … They’ve got banners all over the cities we play in, there [are] promotions on billboards, on buses, on TV. Everyone’s talking about it, you see people walking around in their respective country jerseys,” she said.

“They have sent such a benchmark, knowing we have a rugby World Cup in 2029.”

Having advanced to the quarter-finals, Palu has another chance to play - this time against Canada on Sunday morning (AEST).

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