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Outlandish French campaign's latest twist involves the captaincy... again
By Online Editors
France’s miserable Six Nations has been eventful, to say the least.
Everything from Sebastien Vahaamahina only learning on the pitch from referee Wayne Barnes that he was suddenly the captain against Wales, to Jacques Brunel calling a player into the squad in the week of the England match whose arrival was delayed as he was on holiday.
They now head into their round three assignment at home to Scotland on the back on the revelation that skipper Guilhem Guirado was the subject of a players' vote to remain on as captain last Friday on the same day that French rugby federation boss Bernard Laporte gave the squad a verbal rocket at Marcoussis.
According to French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique, Laporte was invited to address the players without the presence of under-fire coach Brunel, who has won just one of his last nine matches in charge.
Laporte, the Six Nations title-winning coach from 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007, didn’t bite his tongue when given the chance to speak following the hammering by England at Twickenham, allegedly telling the players in no uncertain terms: “When we take 40 points, we shut up!”
Reports also claim that Brunel later intervened before afternoon training, addressing some criticism made of him and asking Guirado if he wished to give up the captaincy amid the growing crisis surrounding the team.
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The players opted to take some time among themselves and they then voted unanimously for Guirado to remain on as skipper. They also appointed a player leadership group tasked with raising issues with staff and to also have a daily debrief every evening after work.
Brunel, meanwhile, has rebuffed claims that Fabien Galthie, who would have played for France under Laporte, has been lined up to come on board the coaching staff.
“The name of Fabien Galthie has never circulated, I do not read the press… I never thought of bringing him in. I have a staff and I’m good with my staff,’ insisted Brunel after he unveiled a team on Tuesday to face Scotland that shows four changes from the heavy defeat to England.
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we need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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