Victim of knee inflammation, right pillar Tevita Tatafu, who was not selected by Fabien Galthié to prepare for the first match of the 6 Nations Tournament, was initially due to resume competition this weekend, in the Challenge Cup, with Bayonne Rowing. He will have to wait a little longer.
Tevita Tatafu did not participate in Rowing Bayonnais training this Friday morning, two days before the reception of Gloucester in the European Challenge (Sunday 2 p.m.). However, last Tuesday, Grégory Patat gave rather reassuring news about the state of health of his right pillar. “He will resume rugby this afternoon, with touches. He will have some content Thursday morning, he will do “partial”. We will adapt the charges concerning him”, said the sky and white manager. The latter hoped to be able “integrate him for Gloucester, if possible”, before sliding “for me, it would be hasty for him to leave directly with the French team”.
Patat: “It was infiltrated, the knee reacts well”
Wednesday afternoon, the coach of the France team, Fabien Galthié, did not retain the young right pillar in the group of 42 players to prepare for the reception of Wales (31/01). For good reason, Tatafu, after resuming rugby with Rowing, complained of his knee. “The ankle is fixed, Grégory Patat explained this Friday noon, but he had an inflammation of the knee, even though he had workloads that were more than adequate and validated for being on the field. He only did one exercise in separate training last week, ball handling work on a structure with the forwards and we felt he was in discomfort. We didn't insist. It was infiltrated, and now the knee is responding well. It's positive. Now, Tevita hasn't played for a while. To get this kind of profile back on track, it takes a little longer. Often, you need playing time. I want to say that the lights are green. All he has to do is touch up the ball and train with us.”
-Will he play against USAP?
Ideally, the Gers manager would like Tatafu to be able to resume training and rugby next week. That, in any case, is what he said this afternoon. “We will evaluate its training load capacity to integrate it, specifies Patat. Today, it is too far from the standards of the Top 14 and the international level. It would be a disservice to him to put him back, already, in the Top 14, before mentioning, perhaps, something else.”
Tatafu has not played rugby since November 16, with the French XV against the All Blacks. He was due to return to the rugby fields last weekend, as the 24th man in Tbilisi, “to be close to the group”, slips Patat, but his knee inflammation decided otherwise.
This injury also forced the Bayonne manager to review his plans for this Sunday and the reception of Gloucester. “I would have preferred to have it this weekend, because Luke (Tagi) is in trouble with his adductors, recalls Patat. They were not in training this Friday, so it will be difficult for me to line up these players for Perpignan (25/01, Editor's note), when they still have legitimacy and a level which could be interesting for me at USAP. The goal is to manage Tevita properly. The 6 Nations Tournament is very spread out, I think he will have other opportunities to enter the group. The safety and protection of the player must be prioritized.”
France
