WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key broke his right arm at the weekend after falling down some steps, but he did not see the doctor until after he had shaken hands with more than 100 burly rugby players.

"I went to give the awards at Touch Rugby NZ: that was about 120 handshakes with rather large rugby players," Key said in a radio interview on Monday, his broken limb now in a plaster cast.

"By the end of the evening I thought this isn't quite right so the next day I had it looked at."

The prime minister, elected into office two months ago, broke his arm after slipping while going down a flight of concrete steps on Saturday after attending a Chinese New Year celebration in Auckland. Later that day, he handed out awards at the touch rugby event.

The break was finally diagnosed on Sunday. Key said he had seen a specialist on Monday and was told he would not need surgery to fix the arm, broken in two places.

(Reporting by Adrian Bathgate, Editing by Mark Bendeich)