Victim of a new concussion and banned from returning to the game after a shock received in the sixth minute of the match against Stade français at Jean-Bouin last weekend, the rugby future of Montpellier second row Paul Willemse is on hold .
Will this be one shock too many? Last week, in the sixth minute of the match between the French Stadium in Montpellier at Jean-Bouin, Montpellier’s second international line, Paul Willemse, suffered a concussion which forced him to leave the field. The Montpellier colossus was experiencing his first start in many moons, after having signed a correct entry into play the previous week on Jean-Dauger’s lawn facing Bayonne.
The long absence of Paul Willemse was multifactorial: for his last match which dates back to April 7 (a Challenge Cup round of 16 loss to Ulster), the second row of the Blues had received a red card (his second of the season, after the one received with the Blues against Ireland in Marseille) for a dangerous tackle and received a five-week suspension. A sentence that he was not able to serve directly since the international had also seriously injured his ear during this meeting. As a result, he had to wait until he was treated to begin serving his sentence.
Last Saturday, in the sixth minute of play, Paul Willemse found himself in a perfectly ordinary situation. A situation that he has experienced thousands of times: after his team advanced in a corridor, the 31-year-old Habs with 32 caps was asked by his scrum half Alexis Bernadet to insist on the ground, and make his voice speak. power. In front of him, he had to talk to: Parisian third row Ryan Chapuis and his second row teammate JJ van der Mescht who, by the way, was two meters offside when Bernadet ejected the ball. The paths of these three strong men crossed here, and Paul Willemse’s head hit Van der Mescht’s shoulder even though the referee of the match considered that there was no irregularity. Even when rewatching the images, it is difficult to assess the violence of the shock, as it concerns human beings with extraordinary dimensions like those of two second rows.
Consultation with a neurosurgeon
Still, Willemse was forced to leave the field after this shock. And he was not allowed to return there. The 31-year-old second row had just experienced his sixth concussion, after having experienced five in less than a year last season. A recurrence which was becoming dangerous and of which the player was perfectly aware, as he had mentioned with our colleagues from Midi Libre who had legitimately questioned him on the subject the previous week: “In the medical world, I am considered a case “orange”. That is to say, I can continue to play, but you have to understand that I took 5 knockouts in a year, and that each shock was more important than the previous one. Not in terms of intensity, but in terms of the impact on my integrity. The last one I take (against Ulster, Editor’s note), he knocks me out even though he’s not that violent. In twelve years of career, I have not suffered a single concussion. There, in one year, I took five.”
Which would tend to suggest that the shock received against Van der Mescht was not that important. “The first explanation is that perhaps I should have taken more rest after the first knockout. It would have made me more sensitive. The second is more annoying. With all the little shocks that I took over the last twelve years, my head only now alerts me to “danger”. And if that’s the case, we need to take it a lot more seriously. The specialist gave me the green light to resume. This year is pivotal for me. Either it’s the second option, and you have to stop in the event of another KO. Either everything is fine and it’s just that I didn’t get enough rest the first time. But otherwise, it’s okay eh (smile).”
Unfortunately for him and for the Montpellier supporters, Paul Willemse is no longer doing so well. As revealed by Midi Libre, the second row has a meeting with his sporting future at the start of next week, near Toulouse, where he will consult David Brauge, neurosurgeon attached to the FFR as a member of its medical committee. The opinion of this expert will certainly weigh in the balance, and will decide the sporting future of the player. In the interview given to Midi Libre, the latter said he was prepared for any eventuality: “Am I OK if my career ends today because of a shock? Honestly, yes. Be careful, that’s not what I want. But if I have to stop, it’s not is not the most serious thing in life. I am proud and happy with everything I have done. I will begin the next chapter of my life.
