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France's lock crisis deepens as Taofifenua fails to recover for Scotland

Romain Taofifenua of France look dejected at full-time after their team's defeat in the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between France and South Africa at Stade de France on October 15, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

France have confirmed that second-row Romain Taofifenua will miss Saturday’s clash with Scotland at Murrayfield after failing to recover from a leg infection.

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French outlet Midi Olympique reported on Monday that France assistant coach William Servat confirmed at their training base in Marcoussis that the 136kg lock will not make the trip to Edinburgh.

The 33-year-old was initially selected to play against Ireland in round one of the Guinness Six Nations in Marseille, but was withdrawn after the squad had been announced due to an illness, opening the door for 19-year-old Posolo Tuilagi to make his debut at the Stade Velodrome.

After starting on the bench against Ireland, Tuilagi could now be promoted to the starting XV to partner Paul Gabrillagues against Scotland following a red card to starting lock Paul Willemse, although Cameron Woki remains the more likely option.

The combination of Taofifenua’s injury and Willemse’s red card only makes France’s second-row crisis worse. Fabien Galthie had already lost Emmanuel Meafou before the tournament began, and did not even select Thibaud Flament due to injury.

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Then again, even though France have been forced to delve deep into their second-row reserves, this only exhibits the depth they have in that position.

Servat added that France are debating whether they call up another player to the squad to alleviate this crisis, which would come after they called seven players back into their squad this week in the wake of the Ireland loss.

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Regardless of who starts in the engine room in Edinburgh, they will want to make an impact for Les Bleus, who will be looking to get their Six Nations back on track after a record loss to Ireland.

Scotland, meanwhile, will be looking to build on their opening round win over Wales at the Principality Stadium in round one, particularly to bounce back from their second-half performance, where they almost squandered a 27-point lead.

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H
Hellhound 20 minutes ago
Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

I disagree. A fair system would include points for EVERY MATCH you play, top guns or dregs. The WC should not influence the points table. No tournament should. It should be simple. This much for a home or away win. The problem with that is that Top Tier nations can point stay by arranging a lot of games against those nations to bring up their points tally, which wouldn't work. At least not on the points table. It would however give Tier 2 nations more game time against the Top Tier nations, which in itself is a good thing. However, that being said, it would dilute the quality of teams as they don't face tough enough opposition to handle the real tough teams, so come WC time, they would suffer for those consequences. There is no points system that currently can be used that would be fair to all, so the best is to try and be as fair as possible. We may not like the current system, but it's the best we have. Some suggested the Soccer system, but it won't work in rugby. No one has come up with a better points system and if they did, WR isn't sharing that. They would rather keep an eye on Dr Rassie with pen in hand ready to declare everything he does as illegal and against the spirit of the game. The SA men are too big, we can't stop them. Maybe we should ban the big men from SA as illegal but keep the big men of other countries? Oh wait, now the SA backs are too fast and slippery. That isn't good for WR so let's declare fast SA backs as illegal too. Yeah, that's how it works in WR isn't it? WR and all other countries hate the Boks. Never give them the respect they deserve, then are shocked completely finding out that no South African care what the world of rugby or its fans or other nations think about us. We don't care about the points system. It's as rotten as World Rugby and it's socialistic communistic rule of laws. The Boks will keep leading the brand of rugby. Keep innovating. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep the game interesting. We respect the AB's because they respect us. They may not like us, but the respect has always been crystal clear. Over 100 years of the biggest rivalry in rugby’s history can't be thrown away just like that. No points system can do that. Between WC's, we care about the AB's, the rest is just preparation for the next WC.

95 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 23 minutes ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

It would be interesting to see how the financial deal and viewing figures for these last 3 matches compare with those for previous tours by leading NH nations. I imagine that broadcasting rights are negotiated a fair way in advance, so did the broadcasters realise France would send a B team when they signed on the dotted line? And to what extent were viewing figures affected? I’d have thought die hard fans would tune in anyway, and more casual fans wouldn’t know much about French players, except perhaps Dupont, and wouldn’t care who played on the French side - wouldn’t it be which ABs played that would matter to them? Although the big ‘disrespect’ furore might have had an effect, but whether to increase or decrease viewing figures I couldn’t say.

It’s not only the French national team that sends out B teams, many of their clubs do too, both in away matches in the Top14 and in Champions Cup. But these B teams often play in front of sell out crowds, and the value of the broadcasting rights for the Top 14 have gone up and up.

Of course, home advantage is real, and matches against the Saffas and ABs where they play best is I guess at the current time the hardest test of all. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll actually see France A in NZ or SA for the foreseeable future - the Top14 really is a fabulous competition, almost year round brilliant rugby, with big stars from around the world, madly enthusiastic fans, and a big money earner, I can’t see the French making major alterations (I’m not French, but I’m a big fan too and the only alteration I’d make is a limit on individual playing time for player welfare).

Considering their home record against NZ and away against Ireland, I think that’s enough to acknowledge that the top French players have a very high degree of skill, but if SH fans don’t see things that way, that’s up to them. My point was, if NZ fans don’t think much of them, why are they so bothered they’re not there. Anyway come 2027, France A will travel to the SH, if not NZ or SA, and we’ll see what happens!

100 Go to comments
S
Soliloquin 43 minutes ago
All Blacks squeeze past France to sweep July series in Hamilton

Big question!

I think they would get outsmarted by the A team, outpacked forward and depending on the form of the A team, the score would be more or less 15-20 points a higher or lower victory.

The only issue is that France has a lot of 13s, and they were all in NZ.

This weekend’s team was gassed out, so it’s also very much linked to fitness level.

Just like the ABs were tired at the end of November, while the French were rusty after just one game against Japan.

I fear they will get smashed in Paris without Dupont (confirmed to be still out) by the Springboks as it will be their first game of the international season (a nonsense to me - the biggest game will be the first)


The squad for this France A would be:

Gros-Mauvaka-Tatafu

Flament-Meafou

Cros-Ollivon-Alldritt

Dupont-Ntamack

Moefana-?(all 13s were in NZ) Costes ?

Bielle-Biarrey-Penaud

Ramos


(But if you can take players from the NZ, then Guillard and Barassi or Fickou could be in)


Against the C team:

Erdocio-Bourgarit-Slimani

Auradou-Halagahu

Fischer-Guillard-Brennan

Le Garrec-Hastoy

Fickou-Depoortere

Attissogbe-Villière

Barré


And a B team would be:

Baille-Marchand-Atonio

Cazeaux-Vergé

Jegou-Jelonch-Gazzotti

Lucu-Jalibert

Danty-Frisch

Lebel-Dréan

Buros


———

France A-France C at full fitness: 38-12

France A-France B: 28-17

France B-France C: 32-20


It seems a bit like Toulouse is kind of France A at full power last year, UBB is France B at full power last year and Racing92 is France C at full power this year.

112 Go to comments
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