England and Montpellier star Zach Mercer was rushed to hospital after being involved in a sickening clash of heads in the opening moments of a game.
The Top 14 match between Montpellier and Lyon on Saturday was paused for more than 10 minutes after the flanker collided with Lyon's Theo William and Sebastien Taofifenua in the opening exchanges and was seemingly knocked out cold.
The flanker received emergency treatment on the field before being placed onto a stretcher and carried off the field to a big ovation from both sets of fans. He was then taken to hospital for further treatment.
Amid the worrying scenes, Mercer did what he could to ease the tension and raised his hand to give a thumbs up as he was carried off the field.
He later took to Instagram to reassure fans following the game, as he wrote: "Thanks for all the kind messages. I’m well and home. Be back soon.”
Montpellier felt their flanker's absence, however, with Lyon going to win the game 31-21. Despite tries from Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Julien Tisseron for the visitors, the hosts were just too strong with Baptiste Couilloud and Mickael Guillard scoring and Josiah Maraku grabbing two tries to secure the win.
The setback also comes at the worst possible time for Mercer himself, as he had recently been touted to make a return to the England fold in time for this year's World Cup. The 26 year-old has two caps for his country, which he won during the 2018 Autumn internationals while representing Bath, before he headed oversees in 2021.
He won those despite initially failing to impress former England coach Eddie Jones, who called him "fat" and "lazy" and forced him to address his weight issues and improve his fitness.
Recalling the pair's clash on the RugbyPass Offload podcast last year, Mercer said: “I remember the first phone call I had with him. He actually rang me and goes ‘Mate, Eddie here,’ and I’m like ‘Oh, hi.' I wasn’t playing for Bath that long. And he was like: ‘Mate. Do you want to play for England?’ and I’m like ‘yeah.’"
The conversation then took a different turn though. "And Eddie goes: ‘Well you effing don’t look like you want to play for England," he continued. "You’re fat, you’re lazy.’ I was like 'Oh, my god' and go ‘Yeah,’ and the phone call’s done. That’s it. It’s over.
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