Zapping Fifteen World 2024 6 Nations Calendar
It’s a question that we’ve often asked ourselves since Friday evening, while watching the final: but why did Yannick Bru line up Matthieu Jalibert? The fly-half had announced, a few days before, his end of the season due to injury. But after assessments during the week, the fly-half was able to play, but he seemed significantly diminished.
“After fifteen minutes, I felt pain.”
Yannick Bru assumed his choice by indicating in particular that it was necessary “trying shots” to try to beat Toulouse. Putting an injured player or just out of injury, a profitable move? Obviously not. And the comments made by the Bordeaux opener to the press in the mixed zone only reinforce the questions. Matthieu Jalibert himself admitted that he suffered only 15 minutes after the start of the match…
For me, my season was almost over. But Mateo felt some discomfort that prevented him from applying and I was getting better and better. So, we decided to take the risk. After fifteen minutes, I felt pain and discomfort. To play my game, and to put speed, it was hard.
Honestly, I didn’t have any good feelings tonight, but I don’t want to complain, I was lucky to be there in the final for me it was incredible (…) I had made a pact with the staff to play more in organization and distribution than in acceleration.
It’s still pretty crazy that a player could play such an important match knowing that he wasn’t 100% and that he wouldn’t be able to play normally. Matthieu Jalibert could have even taken the risk of getting injured even more seriously.
To sum up
It’s a question that we’ve often asked ourselves since Friday evening, while watching the final: but why did Yannick Bru line up Matthieu Jalibert? This choice, assumed by the manager, nonetheless remains very questionable, even more so after hearing the player’s statements about his condition.
