Maxime Raulin, in Mauguio (Hérault)updated on April 12, 2023 at 10:35 am
The international center received "L'Équipe" at his home, in Mauguio, a small town east of Montpellier, where he grew up and where he bought a house last summer close to his parents. It is here that the player has rebuilt following his new rupture of the cruciate ligament of the left knee.
Blue sky and spring sunshine bathe the GGL Stadium, home of Montpellier Héraut Rugby. At midday, Arthur Vincent (23), smiling and with a slightly tanned complexion, sits down at the club's brasserie. Perrier-tranche ordered, he comes back on his new left knee injury that occurred on September 17, 2022 in Brive, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. The same one that had kept him away from the fields for almost the entire previous year (from October 2021 to May 2022).
Very quickly, he slips a confidence: "I hurt myself during the Top 14 final." The MHR center had returned in June. For the sprint. Seventeen minutes against Clermont, on the final day of the regular phase, before playing the entire semi-final (18-10 against UBB) and then the final (29-10 against Castres), Brennus Shield at stake. "I have no regrets," he promises. But on June 24, 2022, at the Stade France, after having scored his team's first try (6th), his knee cracked on a support around the hour mark. " If you look at the images, I hold my knee. I finish the game. The tests are good, I celebrate with my friends. But during the summer, I feel that there is something. I start a new protocol of care. Then I resume the preparation and I attack the new season."
Not for long. Until this trip to Brive (day 3) where the cursed joint was once again in trouble.The first examinations were not so alarmist, tells the new French champion. I was told that I would be absent for two months (a chondropathy of the cartilage was evoked). But the same evening, the surgeon called me back and the verdict fell. The ligament is 70% ruptured. I had just parked in front of my house. A friend, Cyprien, was waiting for me to go out to dinner. We stayed home. We uncorked a few bottles of wine. It was a rugby moment that I needed to start rebuilding.
Board games, lunch trays and swimming in the Mediterranean
After a quick Caesar salad, we headed to Mauguio. First at the Mario-Roustan elementary school (see elsewhere), then at his home where Louan Dubois (also 23), his roommate but above all friend, a cybersecurity engineer, is waiting for us. A warm welcome, a relaxed atmosphere just like the international player (14 caps).