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Team-mate Gael Fickou says France have lost the best prop they have ever had after Uini Atonio was forced to retire with a heart problem.

Atonio, 35, was taken to an intensive care unit at a hospital in La Rochelle on Tuesday after suffering from a “cardiac event”.

He is now in a stable condition.

“He was an incredible player with an extraordinary physique and amazing qualities,” Fickou told L’Equipe of 6ft 4in, 23st Atonio.

“He was undoubtedly the best French prop we’ve ever had.”

Atonio pulled out of club side La Rochelle’s match against Clermont on Sunday after suffering chest pains and withdrew from France’s Six Nations squad the following day, before his admission to hospital on Tuesday.

“I’d already seen that he wasn’t feeling well during his team’s trip to Clermont,” said Fickou.

“I know him and found it strange. He’s not the type to fake it.

“He’s an exceptional player, but it’s the man I want to pay tribute to most of all.

“In a team, he’s a great guy, always smiling. I have so many memories; I looked at a lot of photos with him this afternoon. I hope there will be more.

“Uini has left his mark. He probably would have preferred a different ending, but that’s life. Rugby isn’t eternal, but friendship is.”

New Zealand-born Atonio won 68 caps for France, was part of their 2022 Grand Slam-winning side and started all five games in their title-winning Six Nations campaign in 2025.

Hooker Jamie George, who has faced Atonio in front-row battles for both club and country, also paid tribute.

“On behalf of the England squad, I want to send Uini all our very best wishes following his retirement,” he said.

England internationals Nick Isiekwe and Jack Singleton have had treatment for cardiac issues in recent years, while the demands of the Test game, and on forwards in particular, have risen with the ball being in play longer and players getting larger and heavier.

Professor Daniel Augustine is the medical director of Sports Cardiology UK. He says that sport might bring heart problems to the surface, rather than causing them in the first place.

“There’s one type of heart condition in particular – ARVC (Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy) – which gets worse the more sports you do,” he says.

“For the vast majority of people, as you do more sports and put different aerobic stress on your heart, it adapts in both structure and the electrical component of it’s pump function.

“The fitter you are, the more your heart adapts.

“However we know from the screening data that 2-3% of elite sportspeople will have an underlying heart condition

“One hypothesis is that continuing to exercise at a higher level might bring out those pre-existing underlying issues a bit more aggressively.

Augustine believes that any perception of a spate of heart problems among rugby players is more a product of modern media, than the modern game.

“When catastrophic things happen to high-profile players, it’s around the world now within seconds,” he says.

“Before, that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, this has probably always been happening but we just weren’t as aware of it.”

Every player in England’s international set-up and at every Prem club – from the first team down to academies and age-grade teams – is screened for cardiac problems on a regular basis, with bespoke schedules set up for players at greater risk.

Checks are necessary because cardiac issues can emerge at any point.

“Cardiac disease can have what we call a latent period – it may not manifest at the time of a screen and instead happen down the line,” says Augustine.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said it “would certainly be nice” for the injured Conor Bradley to still be a part of the squad for their 2026 World Cup play-off against Italy in March.

O’Neill’s side face the four-time world champions in the semi-finals on 26 March and, if they can overcome Gennaro Gattuso’s side in Bergamo, would play Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina for a place at the tournament this summer.

They will, however, be without Bradley for the game with the Liverpool right-back to miss the rest of the campaign after undergoing surgery on the knee injury he sustained in Liverpool’s 0-0 draw at Arsenal this month.

Former Northern Ireland international Stephen Craigan said that he felt Bradley should still travel to Italy as additional motivation for the squad and O’Neill hopes that can come to pass should the Premier League side allow it.

“The training base is in Liverpool, so it is convenient for Conor to drop in and see us,” he told BBC Sport NI.

“I’ll speak to him and have been speaking to him, that’s something for closer to the time and for his club to decide if it is right.

Bradley, 22, has won 30 caps for his country and has worn the captain’s armband on a number of occasions.

While O’Neill conceded that losing Bradley is a “huge blow” to NI’s hopes of reaching a first World Cup since 1986, he believes his squad has enough depth in the right-back position to cope.

Sunderland’s Trai Hume usually plays as a centre-back in a back-three for his country, although predominately is a full-back for his club, while Oxford United’s Brodie Spencer deputised for Bradley against Germany in October.

Portsmouth’s versatile Terry Devlin is another option too.

“I thought Conor had a great campaign for us, we missed him in the Germany game when he was suspended, but it’s something we have a period of time to prepare for, it’s not like it happened the week leading into the game,” O’Neill added.

“We have people that can play in that position, like Brodie Spencer, Terry Devlin is playing well for his club, Trai Hume can play there, so it is probably the position we are strongest in terms of options but not having Conor and what he brings on and off the pitch is a big blow and we have to deal with it.”

While certainly without Bradley, O’Neill also provided a fitness update on some other key players, including goalkeeper Pierce Charles who O’Neill says has “a chance” to be fit despite a second shoulder injury of his campaign.

Charles missed Northern Ireland’s entire World Cup qualifying campaign to date through a shoulder injury sustained in August then, after returning for Sheffield Wednesday in December, injured the opposite shoulder against Brentford in the FA Cup this month.

“Pierce didn’t have surgery and we were pleased he didn’t have the surgery because that probably would have ruled him out,” O’Neill said.

“He’s got a chance of being fit, we have to see how his rehab goes and timeframe leading into the [Italy] game when he’s back.”

Aryna Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina in a big-hitting Australian Open final after the world number one kept her cool to storm past Elina Svitolina and reach a fourth Melbourne showpiece in a row.

Two-time winner Sabalenka overcame fluctuations in form and a hindrance call against her in the fourth game of the match to thrash Svitolina 6-2 6-3.

Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina then overcame American Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-6 (9-7) to seal the chance to avenge her 2023 final loss to Sabalenka.

Both players will begin Saturday’s tantalising final in red-hot form, with neither woman dropping a set in their six matches so far.

Sabalenka, bidding for a fifth Grand Slam singles title, is on an 11-match winning streak and has hit the most winners of any player during this year’s tournament (172).

Strong-serving Rybakina has lost just one of her past 20 matches – and it is the Kazakh world number five who edges their head-to-head on hard courts 6-5.

Ukraine’s 12th seed Svitolina had beaten two top-10 players to reach the semi-finals but was no match for Sabalenka’s powerful hitting on Thursday.

Svitolina always faced an uphill battle against Sabalenka, having lost their past five meetings.

Sabalenka’s stats – 29 winners to 15 unforced errors and dropping just 11 points on serve – show how she dominated the play, but more impressive was her mental focus.

An engaging, occasionally volatile figure on court, Sabalenka let her emotions get the better of her in both the Australian Open and French Open finals last year.

This year, with Svitolina serving at 2-1 down in the first set, Sabalenka was called for hindrance by umpire Louise Azemar Engzell for grunting during a rally.

The hindrance rule is meant to stop a player from interfering with an opponent’s ability to make a shot, either by shouting, making noise or dropping a ball from their pocket.

Sabalenka asked for a video review but, with players unable to hear the audio, could only watch as Engzell replayed the footage and stayed with her decision.

The Belarusian was unimpressed, aiming a sarcastic thumbs down at the umpire and offering a few choice words to her team, but she was able to reset quickly.

Sabalenka subsequently broke Svitolina’s serve and then won four of the next five games to take the first set.

After a dreadful service game handed an immediate second-set break to Svitolina, Sabalenka glared at her team, stomped to her seat and then broke back at the first opportunity.

She saved another break point on her way to a 5-2 lead before fittingly closing out victory with a forehand winner.

Discussing the hindrance call, Sabalenka said: “That’s actually never happened to me. I think it was the wrong call, but whatever.

Rybakina is through to her first major final since Sabalenka produced a three-set comeback win to lift her first Grand Slam trophy in Melbourne three years ago.

The Kazakh fifth seed will relish the opportunity of a rematch, having won each of her last nine matches against fellow top-10 players, including world number two Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and now sixth seed Pegula.

Rybakina appeared set to make serene progress to the final after polishing off the first set with an assured forehand winner and maintaining momentum by striking with a break early in the second.

A rare moment of encouragement for Pegula was short-lived as Rybakina responded to a first loss of serve by breaking back immediately and serving her way to a 5-3 lead.

But there were further twists to come as Pegula escaped three match points on serve before capitalising on a poor game from Rybakina to level at 5-5 and tee up a dramatic conclusion.

Rybakina once again reset impressively to create a second chance to serve out victory, only for a resurgent Pegula to force a tie-break.

In keeping with the preceding games, the topsy-turvy tie-break swung back and forth, but Rybakina held her nerve through two set points and clinched her fourth match point with a backhand winner.