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Giant prop among 5 France changes for second helping of Wallabies
By Ian Cameron
Giant French prop Wilfrid Hounkpatin is among five changes that France head coach Fabien Galthie has made for their second tilt at Australia.
The 6'3, 130kg Castre prop is set to earn his first Test cap alongside fellow debutants Pierre-Henri Azagoh and Ibrahim Diallo. The 29-year-old takes Demba Bamba's place in the team, with the tighthead having to make do with a place on the bench. Uncapped prop Enzo Forletta is also named on the bench.
France will be looking for revenge after losing out narrowly to the Wallabies last week when the failure to kick the ball out after 80 minutes effectively cost Les Bleus their first victory on Australian soil in 31 years.
A last-ditch Noah Lolesio penalty saw the Wallabies grab a 23-21 victory which came despite the men in green and gold being the second-best team for the vast majority of the contest.
"Hooter's gone, opposition's got the ball and they win the line-out - you think you're in trouble," said Australian head coach Dave Rennie in the aftermath of the win. "But there was a lot of character shown. I missed Test footy, so we've had a win and we're happy about that but we know we can be a lot better."
FRANCE TEAM VS AUSTRALIA:
Melvyn Jaminet
Damian Penaud
Arthur Vincent
Jonathan Danty
Gabin Villiere
Louis Carbonel
Baptiste Couilloud
Anthony Jelonch (C)
Cameron Woki
Ibrahim Diallo
Cyril Cazeaux
Pierre-Henri Azagoh
Wilfrid Hounkpatin
Gaetan Barlot
Jean-Baptiste Gros
REPLACEMENTS:
Anthony Etrillard, Enzo Forletta, Demba Bamba, Killian Geraci, Romain Taofifenua, Sekou Macalou, Teddy Iribaren, Anthony Bouthier.
WALLABIES TEAM: Tom Banks, Tom Wright, Hunter Paisami, Matt Toomua, Marika Koroibete, Noah Lolesio, Jake Gordon, Harry Wilson, Michael Hooper (capt), Rob Valetini, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Matt Phillip, Taniela Tupou, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, James Slipper. Res: Lachlan Lonergan, Angus Bell, Allan Alaalatoa, Darcy Swain, Isi Naisarani, Tate McDermott, Len Ikitau, Andrew Kellaway.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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