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France have been handed a rare piece of good news on the injury front as they confirmed that Jonathan Danty could be back in the starting team as soon as next week.
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Buoyed by their 27-13 victory over the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France, Fabien Galthie’s men can now look forward to an ahead-of-schedule return for the powerful La Rochelle centre.
“Jonathan should be back next week. He worked very well with the physios and his club,” said attack coach Laurent Labit. “We could have played him yesterday [Friday] but that would have been taking a risk for the rest of the competition.
“He trained almost normally at the end of the week, he will be in contention for Thursday’s match in Lille.”
The next assignment for the hosts is a somewhat easier task against South American emerging nation Uruguay next Thursday.
France recovered from a rocky start to beat New Zealand in a scrappy if at times pulsating contest in the French capital.
The All Blacks scored after just 92 seconds when Mark Telea touched down Beauden Barrett’s precise cross-kick, but three Ramos penalties helped Les Bleus into a 9-8 half-time lead.
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Telea’s second try, from Richie Mo’unga’s floated pass, put New Zealand back in front but after Damian Penaud was denied a try by Mo’unga’s tackle, France seized the momentum.
Penaud took Matthieu Jalibert’s pass to score his 30th test try and after a yellow card for All Blacks wing Will Jordan, two more Ramos penalties and a late Melvyn Jaminet try kicked off a party in Paris.
France lost Julien Marchand to hamstring early in the contest, and the hooker now faces a race against time to be fit for the knockout stages of the World Cup, should France make them.
