Vakatawa pourrait rejouer international en 2025… pour les Fidji
Virimi Vakatawa, l’ancien trois-quarts centre international français, pourrait être en passe de faire un retour remarqué dans l’arène des tests dès 2025.
Le parcours de Vakatawa jusqu’à ce retour potentiel n’est rien moins qu’extraordinaire. En 2022, le monde du rugby tombait de sa chaise en apprenant, lors d’une conférence de presse dirigée par Fabien Galthié, que ce joueur exceptionnel était contraint de mettre un coup d’arrêt brutal à sa carrière de joueur en raison d’un problème cardiaque, et donc devait mettre un terme à sa carrière en France.
Son avenir dans le rugby était en suspens, l’incertitude entourant toute implication future dans le rugby pour l’ailier natif de Nouvelle-Zélande.
Un retour avec les Bristol Bears cette saison
Cependant, comme l’a initialement révélé RugbyPass, Bristol a signé un contrat avec l’ancien international français Virimi Vakatawa, qui a fait un bref retour dans le rugby international au début de l’été, avec le célèbre maillot des Barbarians lors d’un match unique à Brive contre les Samoa dans le cadre d’un échauffement pour la Coupe du Monde de Rugby.
Ce n’était pas le coup d’un soir puisque la suite s’est écrit cette semaine avec les Bristol Bears de Pat Lam, marquant son retour dans le circuit professionnel via la Gallagher Premiership, un peu plus d’un an après que tout semblait terminé.
Si bien qu’aujourd’hui, les règles relativement nouvelles de World Rugby ont ouvert une porte intéressante pour Vakatawa. En vertu de ces règles, un joueur peut en effet représenter le pays de ses ancêtres à condition qu’il n’ait pas joué pour la nation pour laquelle il s’est déclaré pour la première fois depuis trois ans.
Eligible pour les Fidji
Or, la dernière apparition de Vakatawa en équipe de France remontant à 2022 contre le Japon, il se trouve logiquement dans la fenêtre d’éligibilité pour jouer pour les Fidji en juin 2025.
Si Vakatawa décide de se déclarer pour les Fidji, et s’il est sélectionné, il s’agira d’un retour au pays aux conséquences énormes et d’une aubaine pour l’équipe nationale des Fidji.
Néanmoins, la question qui se pose est la suivante : Vakatawa, qui aura 33 ans en 2025, pourrait-il réintégrer la ligne arrière fidjienne composée de stars telles que Semi Radradra, Josua Tuisova et Waisea Nayacalevu ?
Concurrence avec les Fijian Drua
Nayacalevu aura 35 ans en 2025 tandis que Radradra en aura 33, soit le même âge que Vakatawa, si bien que l’âge ne joue pas vraiment en sa faveur, mais ne l’exclut pas non plus.
L’arrivée théorique de Vakatawa dans l’équipe ne tient pas non plus compte du fait que le rugby fidjien révèle de véritables talents grâce au Super Rugby Pacific où la franchise des Fijian Drua a déjà produit un certain nombre de recrues talentueuses et puissantes qui ne demanderont qu’à prendre la place des stars qui s’en vont, sans parler de la filière du rugby à sept qui continue de former des superstars avec un potentiel de transition à XV.
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
225 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
225 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to comments