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Look who's back after serving his suspension for that notorious World Cup red card

Sebastien Vahaamahina is red carded during France's quarter-final loss to Wales (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Clermont are planning a Sunday night Christmas cracker in the Top 14, pitting the suspension-free Sebastien Vahaamahina against the World Cup-winning Eben Etzebeth in his first match since his quarter-final red card in Japan.

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Vahaamahina gained notoriety across the rugby world when he was sent off for sickeningly elbowing Wales’ Aaron Wainwright in the face during a second-half maul in Oita. 

The 49th minute moment of madness cost France dearly as, a man-down, they were unable to hold onto the lead that would have qualified them for a semi-final clash with South Africa. 

Vahaamahina reacted by calling time on his Test level career and having since served a six-week suspension for the incident, he is now set to play his first match in what is sure to be a lively atmosphere at Stade Mayol. 

While there must be a temptation to ease Vahaamahina back onto the pitch by picking him for a home match the following week, injuries mean that Clermont are short of locks this weekend and their boss Franck Azema doesn’t sound hesitant about pitching him in against Toulon and Etzebeth. 

(Continue reading below…)

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“This gesture [red card] will count in his journey, but Sebastien quickly managed to step back, especially by spending a lot of time in contact with his family,” explained Azema to Midi Olympique, the bi-weekly French rugby newspaper.

“This experience, as bad as it may be, must serve him well but I believe that it has not fundamentally changed him. He is an honest and upright boy in his every day life and in the field, he is anything but rotten! 

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“When I look at it today, I don’t see someone bruised. During this period, I appreciated that he stayed in contact with the group. For example, he invested a lot to help his partners in preparation for matches.

“This period far from the field will have been beneficial to him, I am sure. We accompanied him a lot, but we also gave him time to relax with his family.

“Finally, he had time to deal with all those little wounds that he dragged along for a long time and that required either rest or small interventions. It’s good that he took the opportunity to clear it all out.”

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AM 43 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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