Manu to play Super Rugby final with one eye shut

Highlanders captain Nasi Manu will contest the 2015 Super Rugby final with one eye almost entirely closed due to a muscle not functioning correctly.

The Highlanders captain will lead the Dunedin side out in Wellington being able to see fully out of just one eye.

“I can see and training yesterday was good,” Manu told Fairfax Media.

“The muscle (in the eye lid) has stopped working, it doesn’t want to open.

“It won’t stop me from playing. It is not much of an injury.”

Twenty-six-year-old number 8 Manu who played for the Crusaders before joining the Highlanders was forced to leave th field in his teams victory over the Waratahs with the eye swollen shut.

There were fears that he could miss the Super Rugby final but he is determined to play one last match for the Highlanders before he joins Edinburgh in Scotland.

“I am trying not to think about it too much,” Manu said.

“It is just exciting to be able to play a final in my last game. It is not about me. I just hope I can do well out there for the boys.”

Highlanders coach has named a forward heavy bench with only Japan scrumhalf Fumiaki Tanaka and utility Marty Banks as the replacement backs on the bench.

“The win in Sydney was physical but the guys have recovered a lot quicker than the previous week … guys are fresh and ready, understand the challenge ahead and are really looking forward to it,” Joseph told reporters.

“There are a lot of similarities with the way we play, we like to move the ball. We have a slightly different approach to some areas of the game.

“Is it going to be a tactical battle? I think it could be, but not as much, necessarily, as last week because we are similar.”