“It has been confirmed that if you talk about something a lot, you will call it,” Rapant commented on the match, which saw him say goodbye to his national team career.
Forty-one-year-old Rapant has been living in France for over twenty years, where he still plays. In Havířov, where he started, on Saturday he joined the national team for the final European Trophy match against Ukraine (48:18).
You paid the price for the collision with the Ukrainian binder by losing consciousness. Was it a foul on your part when the referee sent you off?
According to the judges, it was a dangerous dump on my part. But I came out badly.
What happened?
I saw it on video, I hit the opponent’s shoulder with my head. Then I was off and falling to the ground.
It looked ominous, but in the end you survived unscathed?
Fortunately, it shouldn’t be anything serious. After a CT scan (computed tomography scan – editor’s note), they told me at the hospital that there was no visible finding in the head, but that I had to pay attention to everything and be calm for forty-eight hours. I followed that, even when my family and I flew back to France on Sunday. I had to sign the reverse at the hospital because they wanted to keep me there for two days.
What was your worst career injury?
I’ve had one before and it was much worse than now. I didn’t even remember that I had to fly home the next day. But the worst was probably the cervical vertebra surgery.
Did you at least manage to meet up with your friends in Havířov?
I mainly saw a friend who organized things around the match itself, Pavel Indrák (playing vice-chairman of the Havířov club – editor’s note). We’re almost like brothers, we’ve played together for years. After the match, when I came back from the hospital, I met some others.
You finished in the national team in 2016. But you took your time with the farewell match.
You can say it that way, but before there was no possibility of saying goodbye.
Moreover, in Havířov, right?
Yes, we were already preparing it last year. We were supposed to play Luxembourg here, but it fell through because the opponent did not come due to economic problems.
In Nantua, you play in the sixth highest French competition. How would it compare to the Czech Extraliga?
Mirek Němeček (coach of the national team) was supposed to come with the Říčany to a training session in France and they wanted to play a friendly match with us. I expected that we would compete with the best Czech team, but in the end it didn’t work out, they canceled the training session.
The paramedics take Lukáš Rapant to the hospital for treatment.
Would you dare to say how such a match would turn out?
No. I can’t compare the quality, because I haven’t played in the Czech Republic for a long time.
For three seasons you played in the top French competition Top 14 for US Oyonnax. Not many Czech rugby players played in it, did they?
The highest Jan Macháček (Clermont Auvergne) and Martin Jágr for a long time in Toulon. And maybe someone else.
This must be a huge success for the Czech rugby player.
By all means.
Was that also the reason why you settled in France?
Our sons were born in France, I have been playing here for most of my life, my wife and I somehow got used to life here. We can always return to the Czech Republic, but we are not planning to do so yet.
Did your offspring stumble?
Not yet. We’ll see how it will be. Before we went to the Czech Republic, the elder said that he would like to try rugby, but we will see what it did to him after that Saturday. They both do judo, but who knows. Whatever sport they choose to play, my wife and I will support them.
Is it too presumptuous to think that Czech rugby would ever come close to the elite teams that enthusiastic spectators watch at the World Cup?
Anything can happen… Everything depends on money. There aren’t many of them in rugby here, so they aren’t even for training. Last year, Portugal was at the championship, which has the necessary background and many of its players are active in various professional clubs in France.
You must be sorry that Havířov, who was in the final of the extra league in 2012, is not among the Czech elite.
It is sad. Anyway, the club is trying to work with children to have players for the men’s team. But it’s complicated. Rarely, out of twenty boys in the youth team, more than one or two make it to the top. Mainly there is a lack of coaches who have the necessary experience. It’s a shame that many former players didn’t stay in coaching.
You tried training in Oyonnax, but you work as an electrician for the town there.
I was dedicated to the youth. But doing it to the fullest? In France you get super money when you train in higher competitions, but the friends who do that spend a lot of time preparing for the season, training, opponents. They don’t have as much time for family as I would imagine.
So for now you’re still mainly going to play?
I want to finish this season and then I’ll see.
