Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has revealed he contracted Covid-19 during his short stint playing rugby in Japan.
Read, who is completing two weeks of quarantine in Auckland after hanging up his boots last week, revealed in an interview with Newstalk ZB he got the virus while playing for Toyota Verblitz in the Top League competition.
"My club went through Covid – I had it," Read said. "We had a few weeks of isolation.
"It wasn't too bad there was a day or so of feeling pretty bad and upset then I came good.
“Half our team got it and it went round quite a few of the clubs so they postponed the season.
"It was quite strange, you would expect us all to have the same strain but we didn't know what it was. Some guys lost taste and smell; some had fevers, some were quite mild, some guys it lasted for a week or so, it depended on the person.
“I was fine after a couple of days."
The 35-year-old said during his time in Japan, the public had been mostly compliant with restrictions enforced due to the pandemic.
Read added even though Covid-19 has been a persistent problem in Japan, he expects the Olympics to go ahead.
"The general feeling is they want the Olympics to go ahead, because there's so much invested in it, but they understand it's bigger than what it is," he said.
"Every time they have a lessening of the restrictions, it seems to pop back up again, so it's going to be dealt with up there for a long time, I think."
Read retired as the third-most capped All Black in history [128 Tests] having won two World Cups as well as World Rugby’s Player of the Year award in 2013.
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