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13 changes for France as they adjust to World Cup life without Ntamack
By Liam Heagney
France have made 13 changes to their team to face Fiji this Saturday in Nantes, Jonathan Danty and Gregory Alldritt their only two repeat starters from last weekend’s win over Scotland.
That 30-27 Summer Nations Series victory in Saint-Etienne came at a huge cost for the French as first-choice No10 Romain Ntamack will now miss the entire Rugby World Cup with his ACL injury while loosehead Cyril Baille has been ruled out for up to six weeks with his calf problem.
With two matches remaining before France begin the World Cup with their September 8 Parisian summit versus the All Blacks, Galthie has rolled the dice for his squad’s latest tune-up.
Alldritt will be a first-time Test captain and he will lead a team that has Antoine Hastoy at out-half in the absence of Ntamack.
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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