Szarzewski blow for Racing
Racing-Metro's Top 14 title ambitions suffered a big blow on Saturday as their French international hooker Dimitri Szarzewski announced he would not play again this season.
The 31-year-old – capped 74 times – posted on his Twitter account that he had a dislocated right ankle and would undergo an operation on Monday.
"Three months out, means the season is over," he tweeted.
Szarzewski, who has played 31 times for club and country this season, first injured his ankle against Castres on March 1 but was fit enough to play against Ireland in their final Six Nations match on March 15 and then the Paris derby with Stade Francais on March 29.
However, Szarzewski, elaborating further on the sidelines of the Top 14 game with relegated Biarritz on Saturday, said that playing any further this season could have caused long-term damage.
"I could have played more games but each time I have done so recently I have finished with a swollen ankle," said Szarzewski, who will also miss France's close-season tour of Australia.
"If I carried on I risked damaging it further and it would have taken longer to get better. I saw a specialist and decided it was best to have it healed now."
Racing-Metro were fifth going into the present round of matches, two points clear of seventh-placed Toulouse, with the top six set to contest the end-of-season play-offs.
AFP
