Meaningless friendlies debate not restricted to Test level as Racing 92 suffer huge injury blow

We have all seen in recent days what injury can devastatingly do to best-laid plans at Test level, Wales’ out-half Gareth Anscombe sadly getting ruled out of his country’s World Cup campaign with an ACL problem. 

His unavailability, which stemmed from an injury suffered in a loss to England at Twickenham on Sunday, has sparked a debate as to the relevance of playing friendly matches. However, the hot topic hasn’t been restricted to just the Test scene alone.    

The World Cup isn’t starting until September 20, so Wales at least still have a window of time to decide upon a Plan B and keep their preparations for the tournament in Japan ticking over. 

However, with the new French Top 14 season set to commence on August 24, 2016 champions Racing 92 have been left with a serious headache following an injury they picked up in a pre-season club friendly. 

Francois Trinh-Duc, the former French international who has 66 caps, was recently recruited from Toulon. He was viewed as vitally important if Racing are to get their season off to a positive start when they host newly-promoted Bayonne in Paris on Saturday week. 

The Parisian outfit had already been deprived of Fijian Ben Volavola and Scotland’s Finn Russell for the opening months of the season as both are away with their respective countries preparing for the World Cup finals in Japan. 

That placed a huge emphasis on having Trinh-Duc fully up to speed for the new club season, but that plan was shattered by the bang which the playmaker suffered during last Friday’s 10-7 pre-season win over Brive, another newly-promoted Top 14 side.  

The club has since confirmed that Trinh-Duc injury has a fractured forearm which will require surgery and the length of his ensuing lay-off has yet to be determined. 

WATCH: Part one of Operation Jaypan, the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what the fans can expect to experience in Japan at the World Cup