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Emmanuel Meafou adds to French injury woes before Six Nations

France's lock Emmanuel Meafou attends a training session in Marcoussis, south of Paris, on March 14, 2023, as part of the preparation for the Six Nations Rugby Union tournament match between France and Wales. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Toulouse’s 31-19 win over Bath in the Investec Champions Cup on Sunday came at a heavy price for the France national team as lock Emmanuel Meafou has been added to their injury list.

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In a match where flanker Anthony Jelonch has since been ruled out of the Guinness Six Nations with an ACL injury, the lock also picked up a knee injury, according to French outlet L’Equipe

Unlike Jelonch, the 145kg second-row is only expected to miss the opening match of the Championship, where Les Bleus host Ireland at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille. Then again, though it is only the opening match, that could well be the defining contest of the Championship if recent history is anything to go by.

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      Meafou did not team up with the France squad at their training base in Marcoussis today, despite the arrival of his Toulouse teammates, L’Equipe have reported.

      After making France’s Six Nations squad last week, Meafou was in line to win his first cap for his newly adopted country against the reigning champions having become a French citizen last year after being born in New Zealand and raised in Australia.

      The 25-year-old produced a statement try-scoring performance against Bath in the Champions Cup, one which would have propelled him into Fabien Gatlhie’s reckoning if he was not already.  He may have to wait at least until their trip to Murrayfield a week later to make his debut against Scotland.

      Toulouse’s victory meant they secured top seeding in the round of 16, where they will host Racing 92 in April.

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      Comments

      1 Comment
      G
      GrandDisse 554 days ago

      Huge blow, especially with Flament already injured. Hope he could recover quickly and come back later.

      I guess it gives some room for a Willemse come-back though, I was actually surprised not to see him in the group.

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      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 25 minutes ago
      Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

      Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


      I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

      Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

      Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


      Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

      many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

      They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

      “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

      You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

      30 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

      But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


      He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


      I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


      Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


      Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

      the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

      This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

      147 Go to comments
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