Castres international scrum-half Rory Kockott has been added as an “extra player” to the CO squad (in place of prop Sphekahle Dube) for the Champions Cup which begins this weekend.
The emblematic number 9 will therefore return to the field, after retiring at the end of last season.
This season he became assistant coach in charge of the defense of the Tarn club.
Castres has to deal with the absence of several of its scrum-halfs: Jérémy Fernandez first suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament at the end of September and, more recently, Santiago Arata suffered an ankle injury in training , his absence is estimated at five weeks.
The hypothesis of a return of Kockott had begun to germinate on the side of the CO last week.
Head coach Pierre-Henry Broncan had indeed explained to our colleagues from
La Dépêche du Midi
:
“First of all, administratively, it must be up to date.
This can be done quickly, but you have to be careful not to grill yourself a possibility of a medical joker, which you might need in another position.
During the first day of the Champions Cup, the CO receives this Saturday (21:00) the English from Exeter to Pierre-Fabre.