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Pro D2 club tweets the name of Vakatawa replacement at Racing
By Liam Heagney
A Pro D2 French club has named the player that will replace Virimi Vakatawa at Racing after the shock Monday revelation that the France midfielder had retired from playing rugby with immediate effect at the age of 30. Club doctor Sylvain Blanchard explained the following day at a media briefing that a heart condition was too much of a risk for Vakatawa to continue playing.
“He must stop his career in France for cardiological reasons,” said the medic. “A cardiac anomaly had been detected before the 2019 World Cup in Japan. This anomaly, which is not linked to rugby, has been monitored but it is an evolving pathology. The risk has become too great.”
With the new Top 14 season already underway and Racing having started with a 25-19 home win last Saturday over Castres, the Parisians were suddenly left with a massive hole to quickly fill in their midfield.
It has now been claimed that the vacancy is closed as Jean-Baptiste Aldige, the president of the Biarritz, has tweeted that Racing have signed former All Blacks centre Francis Saili, who had been at the heart of a curious standoff with the Pro D2 club this summer.
“Good luck to Francis Saili, Alisa Rose, Frankie and Kyrie in their new stage of life @racing92,” write the Biarritz boss. “Can't wait for the Paris derby against @lucas_peyres and @Mat_Hirigoyen. Thanks to Jacky Lorenzetti and Laurent Travers for their responsiveness and respect for @BOPBweb.”
Racing have yet to confirm that Saili has officially joined them as the replacement for the now-retired Vakatawa, but the player had been agitating for a move elsewhere for quite some time. It was June 8, following relegation to the second tier after a single year back in the French top flight, when Biarritz named Saili as one of the 19 players who would be leaving ahead of the 2022/23 season.
However, rumoured Top 14 moves to the likes of Bordeaux and Stade Francais failed to lead to anything concrete as Biarritz wanted the remainder of Saili’s contract through to 2024 bought out. Following an extended off-season at home in New Zealand, Saili eventually returned to Biarritz in recent weeks and faced the prospect of having to turn out in the Pro D2 until the Vakatawa story broke at Racing.
Speaking about his shock retirement, Vakatawa said on Tuesday: “I didn’t feel any symptoms or anything. I had a discussion with the doctor. I have nothing broken, everything is fine. I’m going to stay not far from here, just to clear my head.
“I arrived at 17, I didn’t regret leaving my family at all. I know it was hard. I always tell young people that they were lucky to be here. There are Fijians who will still arrive, I want to help them. I really appreciated having so many people by my side.”
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Latest Comments
Excellent points Mz. Because of other commitments I have just watched the game.
Interesting watching it after reading all the news reports especially in the English media. I was expecting to see a game that the ABs were very lucky to win. What I saw was a game that England showed their tactical incompetence and their inability to construct any try scoring opportunities.
They can go on deluding themselves that they were unlucky to lose ( as Borthwick said post match ) but until they stop relying on rush defence and goal kicking to win I feel they're doomed to be ranked 4 or 5 in the world.
Can't wait until the weekend to see how the Wallabies go against them
Though I dare say Walter will be hoping for an England win.
Go to commentsIF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.
As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.
Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).
This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.
If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.
Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.
After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.
Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.
Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)
Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.
Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.
Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.
Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:
Seeding Band 1
IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG
Seeding Band 2
SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: FIJI
1/8 final opponent GEORGIA
Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA
1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND
Prognosis: You know the prognosis
I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?
Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.
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