Two rugby players aged 19 and 20 attacked with a knife in Les Sables-d’Olonne

Two young men aged 19 and 20 were stabbed on the night of Friday 28 to Saturday 29 June as they left a nightclub in Les Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée), it has been learned Le Figaro from concordant sources. A first verbal altercation allegedly broke out in the night establishment between two groups of young people, one of which was made up of rugby players from the Rugby Club Sablais (RCS). The tensions then reportedly degenerated into a fight at the exit.

Around 5am, several individuals from the other group attacked the rugby players with knives in an alley before fleeing. On the scene, emergency services treated two young men aged 19 and 20, unconscious, lying on the ground with wounds to their stomachs. They were taken to hospital. Stabbed in the liver, the young 20-year-old rugby player was in critical condition with a life-threatening prognosis. He was put into an artificial coma. After a third liver operation, he could come out of the coma this Tuesday.

“Delinquents are not welcome”

Yannick Moreau, the right-wing mayor of Les Sables-d’Olonne, condemned the attack on Monday in a statement entitled “Barbarians”. “This weekend, two young men from Sables-d’Olonne were victims of barbarians, victims of those for whom our lives are worth nothing. Those who, armed, go out to nightclubs not to dance, but to plant.”reacted the mayor.

“Attacks that have become commonplace in many French cities, but not in Vendée, not in Les Sables-d’Olonne. Here, we will never accept, we will never resign ourselves, we will never excuse (…) The criminals will be found and will have to pay for what they have done (…) Delinquents are not welcome in Les Sables-d’Olonne”continued the mayor.

Contacted, the Sables-d’Olonne public prosecutor’s office did not respond to our requests.