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Virimi Vakatawa suffers Six Nations injury scare
By Liam Heagney
Powerhouse France midfielder Virimi Vakatawa has become an injury doubt for his country's Guinness Six Nations campaign which opens with a February 6 match away to Italy in Rome.
The 28-year-old's try-scoring effort against Ireland last October was central to securing France the win that earned them second place in the delayed finish to the 2020 championship, their highest placing since finishing second in 2011.
Vakatawa, who has 27 caps and was a Nations Cup try-scorer against Scotland in his last Test outing, was included in Fabien Galthie's 37-strong squad announced for the 2021 Six Nations on January 11.
However, his availability to a squad that is set to assemble in Nice for training ahead of their opening round Italian job is now in jeopardy as the centre played just twelve minutes of Racing's Top 14 match on Saturday versus Bordeaux.
It has been reported that Vakatawa, who was replaced by RugbyPass Offload co-host Simon Zebo, injured his left knee during a tackle and a prognosis on the extent of the problem is now awaited.
Vakatawa had initially carved his reputation with France as a winger but he has frequently been used in the midfield since an eve-of-World Cup move into the middle prior to the 2019 finals in Japan. He has gone on to score four tries from his nine starts at centre.
The possible loss of Vakatawa would be the second major blow for Galthie this week as he has already had to replace Gregory Alldritt with Cameron Woki. Alldritt told French media that he needs to undergo an examination on an injured knee so he can be 100 per cent for the national team.
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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