Seriously injured in the right knee, the third row Charles Ollivon will miss the 2025 Six Nations Tournament, a hard blow for the XV of France and for the player, not spared by injuries during his career.
The images of his injury, from the 7th minute of Toulon's big win against Racing 92 (36-24) last Saturday, led to fears of the worst, when the third row collapsed on his own before offering a try ball to Baptiste Serin, holding his right knee.
Leaving grimacing and limping low, supported by trainers, Ollivon suspected that his Six Nations Tournament was flying away, which he confirmed on Tuesday in a message on his Instagram account.
“I have to stop doing what I love for the moment and I'm going to have an operation soon”, wrote “the great Charles”, without specifying the nature of his injury, while several media outlets are talking about a ruptured cruciate ligament in his right knee.
First captain of Galthié's mandate, before French rugby superstar Antoine Dupont took over, Ollivon is an important player in the French XV, with 46 caps, who has always managed to return to the best level despite injuries and competition.
Other absentees
Precious in touch, powerful but also very mobile despite his great height (1.99 m), Ollivon will be missed by the French XV during the Tournament, despite the enormous emulation that reigns in the third row among the Blues, where there is no shortage of talent (Cros, Boudehent, Alldritt, Roumat…).
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The absence of this experienced player (31 years old) is also a blow for coach Fabien Galthié, who will already have to do without another of his key players, centre Gaël Fickou (30 years old, 93 caps), who suffered a broken thumb and is expected to miss at least the first two matches against Wales and England.
Other players are still uncertain after injuries sustained during the autumn tour and have not yet returned to competition, such as Bayonne props Tevita Tatafu (ankle) and Toulon Jean-Baptiste Gros (hamstring).
Toulouse left prop Cyril Baille only returned to the pitch on Saturday after a six-month absence and his very serious injury in the semi-final against La Rochelle (rupture of the ligaments in his left ankle and fracture of the fibula). In the second or third line, Bordeaux's Pierre Bochaton, called up in November, is out (back), while Lyon's Mickaël Guillard (ankle) is uncertain.
Repeated injuries
For Charles Ollivon, this new serious injury is a setback, after a successful autumn tour. Relegated from the group against Japan this autumn by Galthié in the name of a rejuvenation of the squad, he responded with a thunderous entrance into play the following week against the All Blacks, before signing an impressive match against Argentina for the last match of November.
Well revived in Bleu and in club, he saw his return to the forefront stopped dead, as so many times before. In April 2017, the Basque trained in Bayonne, who has been playing on the Rade Toulonnaise since 2015, relapsed from a left shoulder injury and was sidelined for several months. On his return in August, he fractured his shoulder blade and foresaw the beginning of a long ordeal: there was talk of the end of his career. He didn't play again until 2019.
Having returned to his best level, named captain of the French team by the new coach Galthié, Ollivon was injured again with a torn cruciate ligament – this time in his left knee, in 2021. The tenacious third row returned once again with the Blues, at such a level that he was named in the 2023 men's world XV. Until this new twist of fate, perhaps one too many for a large body already battered.