XV of France – Bernard Le Roux – Paul Willemse: struck by numerous concussions, head elsewhere

It’s not a lot, three years. This is the average life expectancy of a Top 14 coach. It is also the time it takes an averagely trained biped to travel the Pan-American on foot, from Alaska to Chile. Three years ago, therefore, Bernard Le Roux (35 years old, 47 caps) and Paul Willemse (31 years old, 32 caps) formed the second line of the French XV. At the time, before “Manny” Meafou exploded or Thibaud Flament blazed, it was said of the two Sud-Af’s, associated seven times in the tricolor cage, that they had “crushed the competition” (Midol from January 29, 2021) and offered Fabien Galthié’s pack the hardness, the roughness that it had lost over ten years of neglect. We then thought “Bernie” (1.98 m and 119 kg) or Paul (2.01 m and 136 kg) tireless, invincible and indestructible. We said to ourselves that since Mother Nature had provided these two men with such phantasmagorical measurements, nothing and no one could one day prove her wrong…

Sic gloria transit mundi*, comrades. And while the XV of France is preparing to return to Marcoussis to prepare for the fall tests, Bernard Le Roux played the last match of his career two years ago against Lou when he had dreamed of finishing at 38 freelancers, like the Victor Matfield he had always fooled. He told us, some time before leaving Hauts-de-Seine to go to Stellenbosch, where he still lives today: “You know, I have a long history with concussions… I had already had around ten before the last one, against Lyon. But until now, the symptoms had always disappeared quickly. There, I had a fasciculation muscular (involuntary contraction of muscle fibers, which makes the skin twitch, Editor’s note) all over my body: biceps, calves, pectorals, thighs… And it lasted for hours… All day long, I felt especially like waking up: muddy, tired, cottony, in a bad mood… For the first time in my life, I was afraid.” “Bernie”, who should validate his coaching DE in a few weeks, had before this harmless shock never feared either man or God. He, like so many others before him, had to get down on one knee for fear of ultimately never being able to see his two children grow up.

Paul Willemse: stop or still?

Before crossing paths, two weeks ago in Jean-Bouin, with a fellow (JJ van der Mescht, 2 meters and 145 kg) with proportions similar to his own, Paul Willemse must have said to himself that at all just 31 years old, he still had possibly four years of professional rugby in his legs. Victim in Paris of a new “concussion”**, the great Paul nevertheless had to submit to yet another concussion protocol, the sixth in a year, before being placed in formalin by the Montpellier medical staff. Six concussions in one year, name of a man… Six traumas of similar intensity in a few months, when an MMA fighter, exposed to certainly greater fury but only twice a year, has the obligation to stop for six weeks following a concussion… Shortly before taking a pink bus in the squash, Willemse also confided to our colleagues at Free Midday : “In the medical world, I am considered an “orange” case. That is to say, I can continue to play, but you have to understand that I took five knockouts in one year, and that each shock was greater than the previous one, not in terms of intensity, but in terms of the impact on my physical integrity. (against Ulster, Editor’s note) actually knocked me out even though he wasn’t that violent. In twelve years of career, I have not suffered a single concussion. There, in one year, I took five.”

Tuesday afternoon, the second line of the MHR will meet the neurosurgeon attached to the FFR, David Brauge, in Toulouse. Will he then ask Paul Willemse to end his career? Ultimately, will the doctor agree with the rugby player’s wife, who urged the father of her three children, before the shock we are causing, to stop playing rugby altogether? Jean Chazal, 42 years at the head of the Clermont-Ferrand neurosurgery department, explains in the preamble: “You can suffer a concussion, once, and recover from it. Here, not only is Paul Willemse in his sixth but above all, he practices a sport where sub-concussions are numerous and cause, as indicated by the Professor Nowinski of the Boston School, a multitude of microlesions The risk of ending up with chronic encephalopathy. (this causes migraines, cognitive disorders and almost constant irritability, Editor’s note) is then very high.” Should we save soldier Willemse? And is the frequency of concussions endured in recent months by the second line of the French XV a sufficient reason to put an end to the massacre? Chazal continues: “The brain is not made to suffer concussions, especially when they are caused by colossi. It is extremely harmful. I have seen players end their careers after three brain traumas: I I have in mind the example of Viktor Kolelishvili (former third line of Clermont, Editor’s note) who had stopped his career because he slept badly, had migraines and could no longer support his family.”

Jean Chazal: “It’s about his future”

Brain mechanics being infinitely complex, we would be ill-advised to give any diagnosis to Doctor Brauge, winner of the Academy of Medicine in 2013. But at the moment when 150 rugby players, including former internationals Steve Thompson ( England) and Alix Popham (Wales) accuse World Ruby of endangering the lives of others and demand heavy compensation from the holy mother of this game, French rugby has a duty to rescue its most exposed players and to protect himself against a legal drama from which he would probably not recover. “Examples, continues Jean Chazal, we have a lot of them and more and more. A few years ago, Carl Hayman (former pillar of the All Blacks and Toulon, Editor’s note) asked me for an interview and I then advised him to stop. He preferred to listen to those who told him that it wasn’t that serious and today, he is starting to develop dementia at 44 years old.”

In the specific case of Paul Willemse, the frequency of concussions that the player has endured over the past year can also increase the risk of peripheral injuries: “It is established that the more concussions a player has suffered in his career, develops Jean Chazal, the more likely he is to suffer from neck injuries, knee injuries… I have not forgotten that Anthony Jelonch, ten minutes after having hard tackled the Scottish winger (Duhan van der Merwe, in February 2023)subsequently seriously injured his knee.” So, doctor? “For my part, I agree with Ms. Willemse’s recommendations. He must listen to her. The future of his relationship is at stake. His future is at stake, period.”

* Thus passes the glory of the world

** concussion