Injury concerns for France's star a month out from World Cup opener against All Blacks
France are sweating on the fitness of star flyhalf Romain Ntamack after he was forced from the field against Scotland in the 30-27 win in the warm-up clash in Saint-Etienne.
Ntamack attempted to tackle opposite number Finn Russell in an upright twisting motion, but seemed to pull out of the tackle mid air with his feet off the ground.
The star No 10 was assisted by medical staff on the pitch and needed to be helped from the field as he limped off with a suspected knee injury.
Head coach Fabian Galthie said he suffered “a small hyperextension of the knee” and will go for scans for a full diagnosis.
“We preferred to replace him,” said Galthie of the decision to substitute him in the 55th minute.
“He was seen by the doctor, the physiotherapists and we will decide on Sunday if there needs to be additional examinations.”
Ntamack has been a key player for France with his club combination at Toulouse with Antoine Dupont becoming the spine of the national side.
The pair have been integral to capturing a Grand Slam in 2022 and leading the side to a 14 Test winning streak.
Losing Ntamack on the eve of the World Cup would be a significant blow for the host nation, who rolled out a near-full strength side for their second warm-up clash with Scotland.
The visitors also came away with injury concerns, winger Duhan Van der Merwe left the pitch aided by a team doctor with quarter of the game left after shortly scoring a key try in Scotland's comeback.
France have to navigate two more warm-up fixtures against Fiji and Australia before the opening game of the Rugby World Cup against the All Blacks on September 8.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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