Toulon lock Patrick Tuifua given 20-40% chance of playing again after mismanaged knee injury

Patrick Tuifua made his comeback for Toulon in the final ten minutes of Saturday’s Top 14 match against La Rochelle — a return that, for a time, looked far from certain. The 22-year-old lock had been given only a 20-40 per cent chance of ever playing rugby again after a serious right knee injury sustained against Clermont in October 2025 forced him into a ten-month rehabilitation.

“My knee started to really bother me, until it gave way. I had to have surgery in Lyon,” Tuifua told Var-Matin. “At that point, the doctor told me I had between a 20 and 40% chance of coming back. But I decided to give it my all over these ten months to recover and try to return.”

The New Caledonian-born lock, who turned heads playing for France U20s in 2024, revealed the Toulon injury was a recurrence of damage he had first suffered during the NPC in New Zealand with Hawke’s Bay. He believes returning to play too soon in the southern hemisphere set the stage for the more serious episode in France.

“Actually, it’s the same injury I’ve been carrying since New Zealand. I did my rehabilitation, but I came back too soon. I should have taken more time,” he said. “In the end, it wasn’t healed enough. But now, it’s much better. The surgery went well.”

Tuifua’s path to Toulon was itself the product of a recruitment battle between New Zealand and France. After impressing for the French under-20s, he returned to Hawke’s Bay to pursue a Super Rugby Pacific pathway with the Hurricanes. When he missed out on a full squad place for 2025, Toulon moved with an offer the New Zealand club could not match.

Hurricanes head coach Laidlaw confirmed the club had tabled a three-year counter-offer but acknowledged the financial reality of Top 14 contracts. “He is French. He’s played for the French under-20s and his family speaks French. His parents see that as the route they want their son to take, and we support that,” Laidlaw said.

“We’d love for him to stay and we offered him a contract to stay and keep developing him. He’s a young player with a high ceiling but he’s got a long way to go before he’s fully Super Rugby ready. It could be life-changing with the type of contracts you can earn in France, and he sees that route as his pathway — we wish him all the best.”

Having defied the odds to return to the field, Tuifua’s focus now shifts to rebuilding his form and fitness at Toulon as the Top 14 season continues.