She will have been one too many. The tenth in six years, as he himself confesses. And still, not all of them have been diagnosed. At 31, Sébastien Vahaamahina is forced to retire after another concussion.
The last image of this historic ASM player (2014-2023) will certainly be that of a player lying on the ground, his head in his hands, helpless. Certainly, the last time that the second row trod the lawns of Top 14. It was on December 10, in “his” Marcel-Michelin stadium in Clermont, during a Champions Cup match against the Stormers (24- 14).
Sébastien Vahaamahina is the victim of a new concussion. A few days later, the club’s doctors recommended that he stop his career. “It’s brutal and painful, very painful even, explains the player during a long interview with the team. I understand that it is dangerous to return to a rugby field.
A month of pain, operations and hospital stays, before feeling better again in mid-January. Several weeks, during which the player does not have the support of his club. “In February, I wrote a four-page letter to the president (Jean-Michel Guillon) to express my dissatisfaction and my deep disappointment with the attitude of the club, details the player with 46 caps with the Blues. A little later, it was again I who asked to meet the leaders. I understood that the ASM surely had something else to do than take care of its old soldiers.
A few weeks before the end of the season, and while Clermont is moving towards a season without a final phase (11th, ten points from Toulon, 6th), Sébastien Vahaamahina remains very upset with the leaders of the Auvergne club. “Simply that they recognize their responsibilities and that they honor their contractual commitments, insists the second-line under contract until 2025. Five months have passed and they could have made me a decent and clear proposal to end my story correctly with the club. If they haven’t, they don’t want to. The club continues to buy time and hope that I give up. I thought I deserved more respect. I’m disappointed and hurt.”
It was through a letter from the president of the French Rugby Federation (Alexandre Martinez) that the former second-line learned that he no longer had his ASM license. Disappointed and disillusioned, Sébastien Vahaamahina cannot imagine playing next season. “Yeah, I think it’s over. I still have tests to take and a whole list of medical appointments with specialists and occupational medicine. But obviously, it’s too long for the ASM. The next season is going to start and other problems like the salary-cap…”
Trained in Brive, then passed by Perpignan (2011-2014), Sébastien Vahaamahina arrived at the Yellow and Blue in 2014. Before wearing the jersey more than 150 times. “I played nine years in Clermont. Nine years of unfailing commitment to ASM and today I am ashamed for my club as my dismissal for incapacity is underway. I have a lot of trouble setting foot in the stadium. I told the leaders that they had ruined everything, as if they had erased everything. They should and should protect us. Players have duties, but also rights. They are in a hurry to finish me off. All of this is unfair. They do not assume. We are like cars for them. And when we’re screwed, we go to the scrapyard.
A difficult “second” end for Sébastien Vahaamahina. The second line had left the selection prematurely after an elbow on an opponent during the 2019 World Cup, which had logically earned him a red card. It was his last outing in Blue. The player announcing his international retirement soon after.