![\"10](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0023cf5d-614.jpg\"\/)
\nAtonio (r) featured against Leinster earlier this month<\/p>\n
France prop Uini Atonio has been forced to retire with a cardiac issue, club La Rochelle have confirmed.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand-born 35-year-old tighthead, who played against Leinster in round three of the Champions Cup in Dublin on 10 January, is stable in intensive care in a French hospital.<\/p>\n
Atonio, who has 68 international caps, was named in the French Six Nations squad last week and was due to face Ireland on Thursday week.<\/p>\n
“Uini Atonio was admitted yesterday to the La Rochelle Hospital Center following a suspected heart problem,” read a statement on the Top 14 side’s website.<\/p>\n
“Medical examinations confirmed a cardiac event. His condition is now stable, and he remains under observation in intensive care.<\/p>\n
“Following his hospitalisation, Uini will have to undergo a long period of convalescence. It is now confirmed that he will not be able to continue his playing career.”<\/p>\n
\nAtonio (r) featured against Leinster earlier this month<\/p>\n
The powerful front row played over 300 games for Ronan O\u2019Gara\u2019s La Rochelle, winning the Champions Cup in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
He twice won the Six Nations with Les Bleus, in 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n
“Uini holds a special place in the history and heart of our club,” added La Rochelle.<\/p>\n
“This news deeply saddens us.<\/p>\n
“The entire club wishes to express its unwavering and complete support to him and his family during this difficult time.”<\/p>\n
Listen to the RT\u00c9 Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie<\/p>\n \n Follow every Ireland game in the Guinness Six Nations on RT\u00c9.ie\/Sport and the RT\u00c9 News app, or listen to live commentary on RT\u00c9 Radio 1.<\/p>\n Watch live coverage of England v Ireland (21 February) and Ireland v Wales (6 March) on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France prop Uini Atonio has been forced to retire with a cardiac issue, club La Rochelle have confirmed.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-268188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}