“For me he wanted to do harm with this gesture, to demonstrate his superiority in the game because he also played in a club, but his aggressive behavior has nothing to do on a rugby field”, assures Mathias Dantin casually at the bar of the criminal court of Tarbes (Hautes Pyrenees). Quadriplegic after a school rugby match on December 14, 2022 in Tarbes, Mathias, now 18, spent four hours facing Philibert, the player who had confined him to a wheelchair for two years. Tense hearing between the civil party and the accused who recognized an “uncontrolled gesture”, while ensuring that he respected the rules of rugby.
The club of the Saint-Pierre high school of Tarbes and that of the Notre-Dame de Garaison establishment of Monléon-Magnoac faced each other. Aged 17 at the time, Philibert, who now lives in Toulouse where he studies BTS in digital trading and client relations, made a so-called “cathedral” tackle on Mathias, knocking him upside down before hitting him, crushing him under your weight after losing balance. The events occurred at the end of a scrum during which Mathias recovered the ball and then passed it to a teammate, shortly before being tackled.
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