Brice Mach set for remarkable recovery from cancer with France
Hooker could make test debut two years after thyroid diagnosis
French hooker Brice Mach is renowned as a practical joker by his Castres team-mates but there was not much to laugh about when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two years ago.
On Friday, though, he has every chance of experiencing the high of representing his country for the first time in a test against two-time defending Six Nations champions Wales in Cardiff after he deservedly earned a call-up to the squad when Benjamin Kayser withdrew because of injury.
The 27-year-old – formerly with Beziers, Montauban and Agen – caught the eye last year with his performances as Castres stunned bigger spending Top 14 rivals Clermont in the semi-finals and then European champions Toulon in the French Championship final.
However, Mach – who admits to being a rugby union addict since the age of four – beat the odds of even being able to take to the pitch again after an x-ray revealed the problem in 2012.
“One day when I was undergoing a neck scan, a radiographer said to me: ’Do you have a problem with your thyroid? As you have a lump, it is imperative you have it checked out’.
“As I am an optimist by nature, I let it ride for one or two months. After that I underwent an operation to have my thyroid punctured and all was revealed.”