All Blacks star Ardie Savea has revealed he is open to bringing back the goggles he briefly wore at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Savea made headlines around the globe two years ago when it was announced that he would wear protective eyewear for his side’s pool match against Canada.
During a second half appearance in his side’s 63-0 rout in that match, the 28-year-old only wore the goggles for a short amount of time, and never used them for New Zealand’s following clash against Namibia as they fogged up in the Tokyo humidity.
When it was first announced that he would wear the eyewear, Savea said he would do so to protect his left eye when he realised his vision was deteriorating, leaving his vision blurry out of that eye.
The 59-test international hasn’t worn the goggles since then, though, and while he has previously suggested that he will persist with the eyewear, he is yet to make a comeback with them.
That could change if modifications are made to create a more effective pair of goggles, Savea told his former Hurricanes teammate James Marshall in a recent episode on the What A Lad podcast.
Recounting his trial run with the goggles at the World Cup two years ago, Savea explained that his eye problem is a scratched cornea, which he said was the result of “rubbing too much” and was comparable to a crack in the middle of a windscreen.