It was hard to imagine a worse start to the season for the Pink Soldiers. Paris bowed out (46-26) against a supercharged Union Bordeaux-Bègles this Saturday evening for the first day of the Top 14. But Stade Français has character and didn’t give up. The real concern concerns the many injured players up front.
They left Bordeaux in the rain this Sunday morning. And in the Parisian group on the platform of the Saint-Jean train station, the faces were as gloomy as the Gironde sky. Stade Français not only suffered a heavy defeat (46-26) by being caught in defense – despite its strength in recent seasons – by Union Bordeaux-Bègles who gave it more than 40 points this Saturday at Chaban-Delmas for the first day of Top 14, but it also leaves with many injuries.
Three pillars and a third row return injured to Paris
Still in the front row, it is left pillar Sergo Abramishvili who is injured. His left arm is in a sling. During the match, the medical staff strapped his elbow before he came off in the 60th minute and came back into play ten minutes later to replace Giorgi Melikidze. Finally, third row Mathieu Hirigoyen is injured in the left ankle. He wore a splint and walked with the help of crutches to return to Paris. partners. He was still limping this Sunday morning when he went to catch the train. The Parisian coach did not hide it, “in addition to coming back with a heavy score, we are also coming back with injuries including two in the same position which can be disabling”.
Still in the front row, it is left pillar Sergo Abramishvili who is injured. His left arm is in a sling. During the match, the medical staff strapped his elbow before he came off in the 60th minute and came back into play ten minutes later to replace Giorgi Melikidze. Finally, third row Mathieu Hirigoyen is injured in the left ankle. He wore a splint and walked with the help of crutches to return to Paris.
How to maintain the big Parisian conquest?
Injuries that, depending on their severity, could become a real headache for the Parisian staff while the Stade Français game relies above all on its conquest (and therefore on its pack of forwards). Can the promise of a more offensive game formulated by Laurent Labit with recruits like the fly-half Louis Carbonel who arrived from Montpellier and the wingers Samuel Ezeala (Pau) and Joe Jonas (Biarritz) be kept without a conquering pack?
