These are your rugby headlines on Tuesday, February 27.
France ripped to shreds
The knives are out for the France workforce, with the French media tearing into Fabian Galthie’s aspect.
Les Bleus have had a poor opening three video games to their Six Nations event, shedding at home to Ireland, sneaking previous Scotland at Murrayfield and their blushes had been solely spared on Sunday when a last-gasp Italian penalty struck the put up to depart the scores at 13-13 all.
Considered one of many prime two groups on the earth going into their home World Cup final autumn, the drop-off in high quality has been stark.
French every day Midi Olympique handed out some brutal rankings following the draw with the Azzurri, with simply 4 gamers incomes 5 out 10, whereas the likes of Jonathan Dantry (1.5), Maxine Lucu (2.5), Mathieu Jalibert (three) and Cameron Woki (three) additionally singled out for poor shows.
Meanwhile, L’Equipe ran with the headline “Au bord du vide” – on the sting of the void, with its Monday entrance web page print version merely utilizing the phrase “perdue”, which interprets as “misplaced”.
Despite this, federation chief Florian Grill mentioned Galthie’s position is “completely not at risk”.
“I’m a supervisor, I’m not the kind of person to make swift modifications because of stress,” Grill instructed AFP. “It’s not a choice made based mostly on one sport, one level and never on a transition interval of matches which can be tough.
“Fabien Galthie is totally not below stress,” Grill added.
Wales welcome France to the Principality Stadium every week on Sunday.
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Holley picks his workforce to face France
Former Ospreys coach Sean Holley has picked his Wales aspect to face France in Cardiff.
Warren Gatland’s aspect head into spherical 4 of the Six Nations nonetheless winless after defeats to Scotland, England and Ireland.
Despite losses to the Triple Crown sides, there have been shoots of optimism throughout the Welsh ranks with a check in opposition to an unconvincing Les Bleus subsequent.
Holley, in his position as analyst for BBC’s Scrum V, has picked the XV he’d prefer to see line up in opposition to France on the Principality Stadium every week on Sunday.
“I think Warren has been pretty faithful with some of the young players he’s got at the moment, so I’d like to see some of them start for the first time,” he mentioned.
“Mason Grady, on the wing, I’d prefer to see him from the off. Dillon Lewis to possibly are available in for a little bit of freshness within the entrance row, Will Rowlands I feel now wants to begin, let’s get him up and working in direction of the top of the Six Nations.
“Mackenzie Martin, I’d like to see what he can do against a big French pack from the off.”
In the centre, Holley went rogue with one among his calls, choosing a participant who’s unavailable for choice at current.
“In the midfield, I know Joe Hawkins cannot play for Wales, it’s a spanner in the works, it just highlights for me we need a big ball-carrying distributing 12 like Hawkins,” he added. “We can’t have him, no, it raises a discussion, and for me at 10 I’d like to see Ioan Lloyd, just have a bit of guile, a bit of go, nothing against Sam Costelow because I think he’s a fine young player.”
Holley’s XV to face France: 15 Winnett 14 Grady 13 North 12 Hawkins 11 Dyer 10 Lloyd 9 Williams 8 Wainwright 7 Reffell 6 Martin 5 Jenkins 4 Rowlands 3 Lewis 2 Dee 1 Thomas.
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France star to study destiny
France’s Jonathan Danty will right now study his Six Nations destiny after he was despatched off in opposition to Italy on Sunday.
The centre will face a disciplinary listening to on Tuesday. The 31-year-old was initially yellow-carded for his sort out on Italian centre Juan Ignacio Brex, with the choice being despatched to the bunker overview system.
That was on the cusp of half-time and Welsh TMO Ben Whitehouse upgraded the yellow to pink, which means France performed the complete second interval with 14 males. Danty has now been cited for foul play opposite to Law 9.13: “A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.”
He will now attend a listening to by way of video hyperlink earlier than an unbiased judicial committee consisting of chairperson Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), who can be joined by former internationals Stefan Terblanche (South Africa) and Leon Lloyd (England).
Feyi-Waboso impresses
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s 20-minute cameo in opposition to Scotland has earned him plaudits from two England internationals.
The winger noticed all of three minutes’ motion in opposition to Italy on debut and was an unused substitute within the match in opposition to the nation of his delivery Wales every week later, however at Murrayfield the Exeter flyer acquired an opportunity to unfold his wings.
And boy did he take his likelihood, scoring inside minutes of taking the sphere within the Scottish capital. It wasn’t sufficient to seal a win however his efficiency caught the attention of Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson.
“You’ll never forget your first try,” the Leicester Tigers winger mentioned on For the Love of Rugby podcast.
“Manny will be loving it. It’s obviously gutting that you’re part of a team that loses on the day, but to come out there as a winger – what did he get, 15, 20 minutes? – and score. Even the confidence to call for the ball when you’ve got two caps and you’re coming on off the bench in a losing team, I think shows the type of bloke that he is. Fair play to him.”
Youngs added: “I favored it. Because [Cameron] Redpath was defending across the ruck, and Ben Spencer has an important little present and go across the ruck. He’ll know that taking part in collectively at Bath. So he can’t depart it, and [Feyi-Waboso] comes across the nook steaming onto it and he’s a strong lad. He picks his gap, he’s dedicated to it, and a beautiful little lay-up by Benny Spencer.
“I was really impressed with him. He’s probably put his hand up to, certainly in the conversation, because you look at him and you’re thinking ‘he looked great’. It will be interesting to see what they do against Ireland, but I was really impressed with him. I thought he had a great impact, and that’s all you can do as a finisher. And as a winger it’s hard.”
Watson added: “It’s really hard, because you don’t want to force yourself into the game. I think that’s where, as a winger particularly, you start forcing it, getting your hands on the ball. And that’s where errors start happening and it looks clunky. So to come on and seamlessly fit in and also score a try and look explosive I think is testament to him. Ball in hand he looked strong, didn’t get caught behind the gainline once, always making yards. He looked really good.”
