Injured on Saturday during LOU’s rout at Pau (40-15), Lyon scrum-half and captain Baptiste Couilloud has a tendon lesion in his left shoulder and will be out for between six and eight weeks.

Bad news for LOU. Injured on Saturday during Lyon’s heavy defeat at Pau (40-15), scrum-half and captain Baptiste Couilloud has a tendon lesion in his left shoulder. That means between six and eight weeks out. Another injury within the Lyon squad: back-rower Maxime Gouzou has fractured his right kneecap and will not play again for around two months, while Fiji centre Iosefo Masi has a hamstring tear that will keep him out for a comparable spell.

For Couilloud, it is a setback on the same shoulder operated on last season; despite this new injury, no further surgery is planned at this stage. These absences come at the worst possible moment for Lyon, who will have to cope with a weakened squad for their next Top 14 assignments. It is also a damaging absence for Fabien Galthié’s France, who may have lost another half-back option, after the long-flagged withdrawals of Antoine Dupont and Maxime Lucu.