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Racing 92 loses "a child of the club, a son, a friend" after Vakatawa's career ended due to a heart problem

2022-09-06T12:31:21.301Z


The international center, surrounded by Laurent Travers, Jacky Lorenzetti and Fabien Galthié, confirmed the end of his rugby career due to a heart abnormality detected in 2019.


“Thank you Virimi, we will miss you …”

On the verge of tears, Fabien Galthié does not hide his deep emotion after the news that shook French rugby on Monday afternoon.

At 30, Virimi Vakatawa is forced to stop his rugby career for medical reasons.

It is the medical committee of the National Rugby League which has decided so.

And this Tuesday, during a press conference organized at the training center of the Ile-de-France club in Plessis-Robinson, details were provided to explain this sudden, unexpected stop.

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Racing 92 doctor (and also a member of the LNR's medical commission), Sylvain Blanchard, explained that Vakatawa had to stop his career for

"cardiological reasons"

:

"A cardiac anomaly had been detected before the 2019 World Cup at the Japan.

This anomaly, which is not linked to rugby, has been monitored but it is an evolving pathology.

With this problem, he is therefore forbidden to play in France.

But could he put on the cleats abroad?

It is not on the agenda, it was even advised against by the medical staff of the Hauts-de-Seine club.

Read alsoXV of France: the Blues in support of Vakatawa

Has this heart problem amplified and deteriorated in recent years to explain this abrupt decision?

“Just before the World Cup in Japan, we had detected a cardiac anomaly for which he had already been the subject, for the first time, of an expertise with the cardiological referents of the medical commission of the LNR,

continues the club doctor.

It was then decided that he could continue to play under close medical supervision.

Over the course of this monitoring, his pathology evolved.

With his legendary shyness, while restrained, Virimi Vakatawa calmly evoked this difficult moment.

"It's hard for me to speak,

" he said.

This (Tuesday) morning, I got up at 8 o'clock and I knew that I would not be in the field with the others.

But the hardest part was yesterday... When I had to announce to my teammates that I had to stop.

I spent a lot of time with them on the field, outside.

It is not easy..."

“The club are not going to let him down”

At his side, his president Jacky Lorenzetti was also struck.

Shocked.

“We are all knocked out.

He is a child of the club, he has been with us for eleven years.

I almost lost a son, the players lost a friend.

The club will not let him down

,” assured the Altosequan leader.

“Viri”, after a logical period of decompression, should stay with the club and help train the youngsters of Racing 92, one of the best training clubs in France.

This was confirmed by Laurent Travers, the Ile-de-France manager:

“He is still there, he will be present on the edges of the pitch.

Instead of being an actor, he will do something else but he will stay on the sidelines.

His life is rugby, it's Racing 92. We will make sure to accompany him, that he always has his colors for which he has given so much.

Arrived at the age of 17 at Racing - which was training at the time at Croix-de-Berny and playing at Colombes -, the player of Fijian origin and naturalized French played 145 matches with Ciel et Blanc, including 38 in the European Cup, and scored 49 tries.

After having started on the wing, without much success, he was then replaced in the center position of the Ile-de-France attack by Laurent Labit, former co-trainer of the club who became coach of the attack of the XV of France.

But before that, he had made the heyday of the France team at 7, becoming one of the best players on the world circuit and participating in the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“We still take it with full force”

One year from the World Cup on home soil, the XV of France also loses one of the key players, even if in recent seasons Virimi Vakatawa had lost his starting place in favor of Jonathan Danty (La Rochelle).

Hence the emotion of Fabien Galthié: “

Fate has meant that he will have played his last two games with the Blues in Japan, after playing with the Barbarians

(trained by Galthié)

against England.

A meeting where you had played with Levani Botia

(Fijian center from La Rochelle)

.

You hadn't played together since adolescence... We try to overcome all that.

We know that this can happen in high-level sport, but we take it all the same.

Monday, when he called me, it

must have hit.

»

And the coach of the Blues to continue: “

Virimi has made many children dream.

When we took over the France team, he was a key player in our adventure, in our history.

This is an example of what he saw, we must tell our children to enjoy all their matches as if it were the last.

In the wake of the 2019 World Cup, Vakatawa had changed in dimension, asserting himself without question as one of the best centers in the world.

If not the best.

“When we took over the XV of France, the team was young,

recalls Fabien Galthié,

but he took the "lead", even if by his Fijian origins, he is discreet and empathetic.

He was always exemplary even in difficult times.

We are used to saying that we play as we live.

And there, we see the man he is..."

Virimi Vakatawa also spoke about his unusual journey, from the Pacific to France, he who had been recommended to Pierre Berbizier, former manager of the club, by his compatriot Sireli Bobo.

"I arrived at 17 and I didn't regret leaving my family,

" he confides.

It was hard but I thank the president.

I remember at the time, we took the bus after training at 7 p.m.

Today, the young people sleep at the training center... I was lucky, I didn't break anything.

I still have a lot of stuff to do here.

It's my family, I will remain Racingman all my life.

I'm going to stay here in France, just to clear my head.

Then I'll come back to the club...

" And, despite the shock of this terrible news, to project myself: "

Even if it's hard, I'm happy and I'm ready to move on."

A page turns, certainly in pain, but another will soon open.

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2022-09-06

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