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Handre Pollard (Getty Images)
Rugby World Cup Winner Handre pollard He was rushed to the hospital with a knee injury after Montpellier Loss 41-17 in the top 14 at Racing 92 on Friday when host Kurtley Beale was sent off on his home debut at Paris La Defense Arena.
South African Pollard, 26, who joined Montpellier with a reported annual salary of € 1.06 million after lifting the Webb Ellis trophy last November, was injured while trying to face Racing’s Baptiste Chouzenoux in the second half. and was transferred to a local hospital.
“Generally when someone comes out on a stretcher, it is never very good even though there can be different degrees of knee injuries,” Montpellier coach Xavier Garbajosa said.
“I hope it is benign for him and the team. He went to the hospital,” he added.
Wallaby Beale received a red card with a quarter of the game left to play after a dangerous tackle to France center Arthur Vincent and could be a doubt for next Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-finals at Clermont.
“Of course it’s bad news. It’s frustrating, it’s part of the game, I haven’t seen it since, but it’s a red card,” said Racing forward coach Dimitri Szarzewski.
“Now other players have the opportunity to express themselves,” he added.
French prop Mohamed Haouas returned to the visitors’ fold after being sanctioned for an altercation with a club sponsor and being late for training.
Parisians head coach Laurent Travers brought in eight new faces after last Saturday’s win at Lyon, but Wallaby Beale retained his spot at full-back to take his hometown bow.
They led 11-0 in the 20th minute thanks to two penalties by Teddy Iribaren and a try by Teddy Baubigny.
Pollard claimed his team’s first points with a shot on goal five minutes later before Juan Imhoff scored Racing’s second try of the night just before half-time.
Russell attends
The home side’s dominance continued in the second half as Virimi Vakatawa and Antonie Claassen benefited to land after delicate kicks from Finn Russell.
With 18 minutes to go, Beale received his marching orders when his arm made contact with Vincent’s head in a driveway.
Montpellier’s blocking Janse van Rensburg made the most of a man advantage when he crashed and French fullback Anthony Bouthier, who took over kicking duties from Pollard, converted to make it 31-10 with a quarter. hour to play.
Substitute scrum half Maxime Machenaud extended Racing’s lead to 34-10 with a penalty in the 67th minute, but the red card had an added impact when Travers conceded again.
Pollard’s club and midfield partner Cobus Reinach ran after a line-out move to jump and Bouthier’s extras made it 34-17.
Despite the concerns, Racing regained a bonus point on the final play of the game when substitute prop Hassane Kolingar scored from a maul.
On the other hand, Agen’s Irish midfielder Noel Reid also received a red card in the 33-23 loss at Pau.
