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Posolo Tuilagi shares update from hospital bed after horrific injury
France second-row Posolo Tuilagi has said that his operation “went well” after suffering a gruesome double leg break on Saturday.
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The 20-year-old was stretchered off the Stade Aime Giral pitch after only 17 minutes of USA Perpignan’s 33-3 victory over ASM Clermont Auvergne on Saturday in the Top 14.
His club confirmed after the match that the five-cap international suffered a tibia-fibula fracture on his left leg, colloquially his shin.
Just over 24 hours after the injury, Tuilagi shared an Instagram Story for his followers from a hospital bed, writing: “The operation went well thank you all for your messages and support.”
There has not yet been an update on how long the 149kg forward will be out for, but a long stretch on the sidelines is inevitable.
The injury will rule Tuilagi out of France’s November internationals, which is a bitter end to his breakthrough year on the Test scene. Les Bleus host Japan, the All Blacks and Argentina in November.
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Tuilagi’s absence will be a bigger blow for Perpignan though, who had not registered a Top 14 win this season until Saturday’s victory. The win leaves the Catalan outfit in eleventh place in the league, only one point ahead of bottom-place Vannes.
Fans were robbed of the much-anticipated showdown between the lock and his uncle, Bayonne’s Manu Tuilagi, in the opening round of the season due to a broken suffered by the England international. With Perpignan set to host Bayonne in January, it will be Posolo’s leg injury that will likely delay the Tuilagi Derby even further.
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Damn, poor bloke. Hope he comes back to the Pacific to play the rest of his career out.