Nareki made his All Blacks Sevens debut in Hong Kong 2018

Players put themselves through plenty of pain for their sport but Jona Nareki went further than most by playing with a "smashed testicle".

In his Otago side's 23-19 win over Waikato in New Zealand, Nareki had to play the last two minutes of the game with the rather unusual injury.

The 20-year-old wing had been substituted after about an hour because of the issue but needed to get back on the pitch after team-mate Mitchell Scott went off injured, with Otago trying to hold on for victory.

"It was just a direct blow on the bulls-eye," Otago coach Ben Herring told Newshub. external-link "I don't know who it was and he probably doesn't either.

"He came off, but when there were injuries in the game, he had to come back on with his smashed testicle, which was operated on.

"If you know Jona, he's a particularly buoyant fella, but the comment was, 'don't worry mate, it's just a small operation'."