Already deprived of Maxime Machenaud, Bayonne lost another of its scrum halves this weekend. Badly injured in his left ankle on Saturday during the victory against LOU, Baptiste Germain will be absent for two months.
Rowing will end the year 2025 with only two scrum halves. Already deprived for a long time of Maxime Machenaud, victim of a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the right knee, a sprain of the internal lateral ligament as well as a sprained ankle, a (serious) injury contracted last October during the trip to Pau, Bayonne will now have to do without Baptiste Germain (25 years old).
Hard hit in the left ankle last Saturday during the Basques’ painful victory at home against LOU (22-20) on a tackle from Lyon second row Killian Geraci, the very promising young number 9 of Rowing left the lawn of the Jean-Dauger stadium in tears and limping.
Then taken to the hospital, the future Clermontois (Editor’s note: At the end of his contract, the former French U20 international) immediately underwent examinations which were reassuring in the sense that the former Toulouse player was quickly relieved to learn that he did not suffer from any fracture.
A medical joker to replace Germain?
On the other hand, the MRI in question still revealed a major sprain. Germain, who has appeared seven times since the start of the season (for six starts and four tries) and who had just started his team’s last five matches, will in fact be absent for at least two months (eight to ten weeks to be exact).
A new blow for the 5th in the ranking and his coach Grégory Patat, who will have to get through the year and continue the season with only two scrum halves available: the South African Herschel Jantjies and the great French hope Baptiste Tilloles, a novice at this level nonetheless.
Rowing, which would find itself in great difficulty in the event of injury to one of the two men, could however decide to enlist a reinforcement who would join Bayonne as a medical joker. With this in mind, Basque leaders can only consider calling on a JIFF (player from training sectors). Easy to say, much less to do.
