1
France change four for their series-ending game with Argentina
By Liam Heagney
Fabien Galthie has made four changes to his France side to host Argentina in Paris on Friday. The French, who defeated New Zealand 30-29 at Stade de France last Saturday, are looking to close out an unbeaten Autumn Nations Series that started with a November 9 win over Japan.
France hung onto victory against the All Blacks despite a late Damian McKenzie cutting the margin to a single point and their selection to take on the Pumas shows one change in the backs and three in the pack.
Leo Barre is named at full-back in place of Romain Buros in the only alteration to the backline. Up front, Uini Atonio is at tighthead for Tevita Tatafu while there are also two switches in the back row.
The fit-again Francois Cros is accommodated at blindside with Paul Boudehent switching to openside and Alexandre Roumat dropping to the bench. Charles Ollivon is also included to start at No8 in place of Gregory Alldritt after his cap last weekend as a replacement.
France’s bench again has a six/two forwards/backs split, but there are two changes with Roumat and Marko Gazzotti included for Romain Taofifenua and the promoted Ollivon.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Junior Kpoku snubs England approach to extend Top 14 deal - report
3
Elliot Daly released as England make two changes to squad for Japan
4
'Ellis Genge, I have never seen his defence so bad'
5
Latest Comments
England have all the makings of a good team. We know that, and we have known that for years (including when Eddie was delivering disappointing results). But sometimes the positive comments about under-performing teams sound like describing a darts player as "fantastic, aside from their accuracy".
Its a trivial observation to say that scoring more points and preventing more points against you would result in better outcomes. And points difference does not mean much either, as it is generally less than 5 points with top teams. Usain Bolt would win the 100m sprint by 200 milliseconds (approximately two blinks of an eye), but that doesn't mean the others could easily beat him.
Also, these kinds of analyses tend to talk about how the team in question would just need to do X, Y and Z to win, but assume that opponents don't make any changes themselves. This is nonsense, as it is always the case that both teams go away with a list of work-ons. If we're going to think about what would have happened if team A had made that tackle, kicked that goal or avoided that penalty, the n let's think about what would have happened if team B had passed to that overlap, avoided that card, or executed that lineout maul.
There are lots of things that England can focus on for improvement, but for me the main observation is that they have not been able to raise their game when it matters. Playing your best game when it counts is what makes champions, and England have not shown that. And, for me, that's a coaching thing.
I expected Borthwick to build a basics-first, conservative culture, minimizing mistakes, staying in the game, and squeezing out wins against fancier opponents and game plans. It's not that he isn't building something, but it has taken disappointingly long, not least if you compare it to Australia since Schmidt took over, or SA after Rassie took over.
Go to commentsYeah he went ot France to develop himself because Aussie showed no interest. More fool them.
But JW thinks all SH players only ever go to Europe for the money which is facile to the nth degree.🤣
Go to comments