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Nakaitaci facing six months out with ruptured ACL
By Christopher Devine
European Champions Cup semi-finalists Clermont Auvergne have been dealt a major blow with confirmation that France wing Noa Nakaitaci ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in Sunday's victory over Toulon.
Nakaitaci scored a crucial try as Clermont came on strong in the second half to triumph 29-9 and secure a last-four meeting with Leinster.
However, the Fiji-born 26-year-old was forced off following a freak incident towards the end of the game, in which he hurt his right knee when seemingly attempting to pull out of a tackle on a leaping Bryan Habana.
On Monday, Clermont - who sit second in the Top 14 - confirmed Nakaitaci was now facing six months on the sidelines.
"Scans this morning revealed a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in the right knee," read a statement on Clermont's website.
"In the evening, Noa Nakaitaci will meet Doctor van Hille at the Chataigneraie de Beaumont clinic to plan a very probable reconstructive surgery.
"The period of unavailability for such an injury is about six months. His 2016-17 season is over."
Clermont have already been shorn of another France international for the remainder of the campaign, after Wesley Fofana suffered a ruptured Achilles in a Champions Cup win over Exeter Chiefs in January.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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