Uini Atonio

[Which Tyler]

https://www.staderochelais.com/actualit ... ini-atonio

Official press release - Uini Atonio
Mercredi 28 janvier 2026 Pros Club Uini ATONIO
Uini Atonio was admitted yesterday to the La Rochelle Hospital Center following a suspected heart problem. Medical examinations confirmed a heart attack. His condition is now stable and he remains, under surveillance, in intensive care.

[Stom]

And immediately retiring as I heard. Poor guy, hope he’s ok.

[Which Tyler]

Yup, mentioned in the press release


Obviously, I wish him all the best in his recovery

[Puja]

https://www.staderochelais.com/actualit ... ini-atonio

Official press release - Uini Atonio
Mercredi 28 janvier 2026 Pros Club Uini ATONIO
Uini Atonio was admitted yesterday to the La Rochelle Hospital Center following a suspected heart problem. Medical examinations confirmed a heart attack. His condition is now stable and he remains, under surveillance, in intensive care.

Gods, poor sod! At least he's made it to hospital and got stable - it's my understanding that's got him through most of the risk.

Puja

[twitchy]

No matter how much cardio you do, being that huge must put a serious strain on your heart.

[Oakboy]

This is the sort of event I feared in the discussion on not picking props early. Was there a temptation for older ones to go on beyond a natural peak? A rugby career is short. So, is picking a 20 year old at one end of his career better/worse than picking a 35 year old? Or, should they pay props more (per year) for a 10 year span than backs for 12/15 so the overall career benefit is similar?

[francoisfou]

The poor fella wasn’t looking so good in the Harlequins match a couple of weeks ago, and at 1m96 and an alleged weight of 145kgs, I hope the La Rochelle medics were taking good care of him.

[Puja]

This is the sort of event I feared in the discussion on not picking props early. Was there a temptation for older ones to go on beyond a natural peak? A rugby career is short. So, is picking a 20 year old at one end of his career better/worse than picking a 35 year old? Or, should they pay props more (per year) for a 10 year span than backs for 12/15 so the overall career benefit is similar?

I don't think you can blame him still playing sport at the ripe old age of 35 for him having a heart attack! Without any further information, I think we have to assume that this was some congenital weakness that cause a problem after overexertion, of the same kind which sportspeople will occasionally have, and for which there is no real ability to predict or prevent (other than "nobody do sport").

Puja

[Oakboy]

This is the sort of event I feared in the discussion on not picking props early. Was there a temptation for older ones to go on beyond a natural peak? A rugby career is short. So, is picking a 20 year old at one end of his career better/worse than picking a 35 year old? Or, should they pay props more (per year) for a 10 year span than backs for 12/15 so the overall career benefit is similar?

I don't think you can blame him still playing sport at the ripe old age of 35 for him having a heart attack! Without any further information, I think we have to assume that this was some congenital weakness that cause a problem after overexertion, of the same kind which sportspeople will occasionally have, and for which there is no real ability to predict or prevent (other than "nobody do sport").

Puja

Fair enough but. A relative of mine joined Bath as a junior some years back. He was regarded highly as a prop. The training regime included a dietary requirement that his family could not afford, the aim being to increase his weight by many stones. He dropped out. His experience still leads me to wonder what strain is placed on organs and joints doing professional amounts of exercise carrying 4 or 5 stones more than a body's natural weight. Had my relative gone on to play till 35 he would have done that for 19 years!

All I wonder is whether delaying earning power for so-called 'physical care' reasons leads to strain on organs/joints for longer. Medical practice still includes 'do no harm' as a principle.

[Puja]

This is the sort of event I feared in the discussion on not picking props early. Was there a temptation for older ones to go on beyond a natural peak? A rugby career is short. So, is picking a 20 year old at one end of his career better/worse than picking a 35 year old? Or, should they pay props more (per year) for a 10 year span than backs for 12/15 so the overall career benefit is similar?

I don't think you can blame him still playing sport at the ripe old age of 35 for him having a heart attack! Without any further information, I think we have to assume that this was some congenital weakness that cause a problem after overexertion, of the same kind which sportspeople will occasionally have, and for which there is no real ability to predict or prevent (other than "nobody do sport").

Puja

Fair enough but. A relative of mine joined Bath as a junior some years back. He was regarded highly as a prop. The training regime included a dietary requirement that his family could not afford, the aim being to increase his weight by many stones. He dropped out. His experience still leads me to wonder what strain is placed on organs and joints doing professional amounts of exercise carrying 4 or 5 stones more than a body's natural weight. Had my relative gone on to play till 35 he would have done that for 19 years!

All I wonder is whether delaying earning power for so-called 'physical care' reasons leads to strain on organs/joints for longer. Medical practice still includes 'do no harm' as a principle.

I think there is definitely something to the idea of it not being good to make people carry more weight than their body is predisposed towards (although I don't know I correlate it with the age point you're trying to make on props, especially since there appears to be a much higher spinal injury rate than heart attack rate). I remember JSD and Manu's injury woes abruptly lightening when they made the decision to drop their playing weight by a stone or so. I'm also thinking of a video of George Kruis that I saw a couple of years after he retired and he's reverted to a beanpole so quickly that it's clearly the shape that his body *wants* to be in.

Puja