A former Manu Samoa player has launched a stinging attack against New Zealand Rugby after he says he was left on the scrapheap, broke and battered.

George Leaupepe, who played alongside Jonah Lomu in the star-studded Counties Manukau team of the 1990s, was fined after police found a hydroponic cannabis set-up in his Auckland bedroom.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of cultivating the class-C drug and spoke to the Herald to hit out at those behind the game he played for more than a decade.

While the former midfield back admitted fault, he said the cannabis was purely for personal medicinal use after being left with injuries from his years on the field.

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