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Virimi Vakatawa breaks silence on his return to play in England
Former France midfielder Virimi Vakatawa has spoken out for the first time about his career lifeline in England at the age of 31. It was September last year, prior to the start of the 2022/23 Top 14 season, when the Fijian-born Racing 92 centre was forced into retirement after French medics refused to give him a licence to play due to a heart anomaly.
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It was a massive blow as he was on track to represent France at the 2023 Rugby World Cup having been part of their 2022 Guinness Six Nations success.
However, an invite from Pat Lam to play for the Barbarians in their August match in Brive versus Samoa resulted in a follow-up call from the Bristol boss the following month and Vakatawa has since made six Gallagher Premiership appearances, five as a starter for the Ashton Gate club.
Ahead of Bristol’s next match away to Saracens on Saturday, Vakatawa has broken his silence on his switch to England in an interview with Midi Olympique, the bi-weekly French rugby newspaper. He didn’t want to dwell on the past, instead focusing on his future.
“I’m fine. We’re not going to talk about medical and the past. Let’s just talk about the present and the future,” he began, going on to explain getting the medical green light to play in England.
Kolisi l'icône en Une de Midi Olympique ??
Le journal > https://t.co/pXsWakbuMH pic.twitter.com/cP57lFYSqM
— Midi Olympique (@midi_olympique) November 23, 2023
“The specialist I saw here gave me permission to play again. I do not want to talk about France. I love this country and I don’t want to say anything. I respect the decision that was taken by the French doctors.
“I had a very difficult time but I always had hope. Even though some people don’t want to believe it, say I’m crazy and I’m risking my life, I’m happy with the decision I made to play again. In my heart, I knew I was going to do it. My faith in God guided me to this.
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“Being a player is everything I have dreamed of since I was a kid in Fiji. Rugby is my job. I am the only one working and helping my family in Fiji. Rugby is my life. Two weeks after the doctor told me to stop, I was already working out and not staying home eating pizza.
“When I was in Paris, I trained alone. I was trying to stay in shape by running and weight training. It wasn’t the same as training with a rugby team. There’s not much you can do when you’re alone.
“To be honest, Pat Lam and I met in the Barbarians game against Samoa but we didn’t really have a discussion about it. It wasn’t until a little later that Pat called me to ask if I wanted to come. I was a bit surprised but I was looking for a club so I said, ‘Why not?’ I’d missed all that, you know…
“Nothing has changed in the way I play rugby… For the rest of the season, it’s just a matter of time before I’m back to my true level. Two or three more weeks and you’ll be fine.”
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Ironically, next month will be the opportunity for Vakatawa to play for Bristol away in Bordeaux in the European Challenge Cup, a fixture he wouldn’t be allowed to take part in if he was representing a French club.
“It will be special but it will also do me good to play in France. When I signed for Bristol, it was the first time I left Racing 92 and France.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
140 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
140 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
140 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
140 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
140 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
140 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
140 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
140 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
140 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
140 Go to commentsHo hum.
140 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
140 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
140 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
140 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
140 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
140 Go to comments