Baptiste Serin produces an ‘absolutely glorious’ assist that is bittersweet as ‘grave concern’ for injured France star

Toulon scrum-half Baptiste Serin was in fine form but an injury to Charles Ollivon is a concern for club and country.
France international scrum-half Baptiste Serin gave a masterclass in attacking rugby as he helped open Toulon’s try scoring account against rivals Racing 92 on Saturday.
The classy number nine has been in scintillating form during recent campaigns but unfortunately is sat behind the great Antoine Dupont in the Les Bleus pecking order.
However, he continues to catch the eye and that was no different at Stade Felix-Mayol on Saturday when he produced two moments of magic that led to an early crossing.
Serin magic
With play on halfway Serin dummied before grubbering through and recollecting. He then passed to the supporting Charles Ollivon, who was brought to the ground and then offloaded back to the scrum-half. Then came another act of brilliance from Serin as he again put boot to ball, this time with a perfectly weighted cross-kick to Setariki Tuicuvu.
The Fijian flyer scooted over the whitewash for the try on five minutes but joy turned to despair soon after when he saw team-mate Ollivon clutching his knee on the ground.
"That is sensational!" ??
An outstanding Toulon try to open the scoring against Racing 92 ? pic.twitter.com/HZlykFvUUt
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) January 4, 2025
It looked to be a serious injury to the France back-row and it comes at a disastrous time for both Ollivon and Les Bleus with the 2025 Six Nations less than four weeks away.
Ollivon has already come back from one ACL reconstruction in 2022 that saw him miss a large part of that season, with his rehabilitation from that injury totalling 15 months.
France dealt ANOTHER injury setback ahead of the Six Nations
Ollivon was replaced by Esteban Abadie and his injury will worry France head coach Fabien Galthie, with centres Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou already on the sidelines.
Sources close to RCT told Planet Rugby‘s James While exclusively that the injury wasn’t fully diagnosed but that they suspected it was one of an ACL, MCL or Meniscus issue. Scans over the weekend will reveal the damage and Toulon will confirm the diagnosis, however, there are ‘grave concerns’ over the seriousness of the injury to the back-rower.
France concern
France kick off their Six Nations campaign against Wales at home on Friday, January 31 before they take on England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, February 8.
Les Bleus will be determined to strip the Championship from Ireland’s grasp and with playmakers Dupont and Serin in the form they are they look serious challengers again.
Speaking of Serin, his Toulon team went into the interval against Racing leading 24-10 thanks to a second score from Tuicuvu and Gael Drean and Facundo Isa crossings.