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Virimi Vakatawa withdrawn from France's Six Nations squad as Les Bleus injury toll rises
By Online Editors
France have been dealt another personnel blow in the lead-up to their Six Nations campaign, as star midfielder Virimi Vakatawa has been withdrawn from the Les Bleus squad due to a knee injury.
Vakatawa was named in Fabien Galthie's 37-man squad earlier this month as one of four midfielders alongside Gael Fickou, Arthur Vincent and uncapped prospect Julien Delbouis.
However, the powerful 28-year-old has been removed from the squad and replaced by two-test Lyon midfielder Pierre-Louis Barassi after he sustained a knee injury while playing for Racing 92 over the weekend.
Vakatawa left the field early in the first half of his side's 33-32 Top 14 defeat to Bordeaux in Paris on Saturday, and the 27-test star will undergo a scan to assess the extent of the damage.
His injury blow is a cruel one for France following the loss of other key players in recent weeks.
Star loose forward Gregory Alldritt was a surprise omission from the French squad last Thursday. The 23-year-old went on to reveal that he is undergoing an examination for an injured knee.
Three days before that, fullback Thomas Ramos was withdrawn from the squad due to a groin issue, which is expected to rule him out for three weeks.
Both players could still yet feature in the Six Nations, but both have been replaced by four-test back rower Cameron Woki and eight-test outside back Vincent Rattez.
The French squad will assemble for a training camp in Nice today as they eye an improvement on their second-place finishes in last year's Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup.
France will then open their 2021 Six Nations campaign against Italy in Rome on February 7.
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I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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