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France chucked injury front lifeline after win over All Blacks
By Ian Cameron
France have been handed a rare piece of good news on the injury front as they confirmed that Jonathan Danty could be back in the starting team as soon as next week.
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Buoyed by their 27-13 victory over the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France, Fabien Galthie’s men can now look forward to an ahead-of-schedule return for the powerful La Rochelle centre.
“Jonathan should be back next week. He worked very well with the physios and his club,” said attack coach Laurent Labit. “We could have played him yesterday [Friday] but that would have been taking a risk for the rest of the competition.
“He trained almost normally at the end of the week, he will be in contention for Thursday’s match in Lille.”
The next assignment for the hosts is a somewhat easier task against South American emerging nation Uruguay next Thursday.
France recovered from a rocky start to beat New Zealand in a scrappy if at times pulsating contest in the French capital.
The All Blacks scored after just 92 seconds when Mark Telea touched down Beauden Barrett’s precise cross-kick, but three Ramos penalties helped Les Bleus into a 9-8 half-time lead.
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Telea’s second try, from Richie Mo’unga’s floated pass, put New Zealand back in front but after Damian Penaud was denied a try by Mo’unga’s tackle, France seized the momentum.
Penaud took Matthieu Jalibert’s pass to score his 30th test try and after a yellow card for All Blacks wing Will Jordan, two more Ramos penalties and a late Melvyn Jaminet try kicked off a party in Paris.
France lost Julien Marchand to hamstring early in the contest, and the hooker now faces a race against time to be fit for the knockout stages of the World Cup, should France make them.
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The Wallabies will never be successful while the Tahs insist their second rate players like Porecki and Donaldson are selected and Eddie goes along with it to please them. Neither Porecki nor Donaldson are in the top three players in their position in Australia but there they are captaining Australia and controlling the game. How the hell does your captain get penalised for being too lazy to roll away from a ruck 2 minutes in to a must win World Cup game. The sense of self entitlement to put yourself in that position, as captain, is breathtaking and disgraceful. The Wallabies never stood a chance, which must really really irk the other players ......
Go to commentsThe crisis that has occurred for New Zealand rugby over the last cycle mostly stem from their losses to Ireland and now they are likely to face them in the Quarter Finals. It could be a fitting end, with them exiting the World Cup early like Australia, and some will then wish to write their obituaries for the coach and team at that point. For me, I actually see it as a positive - there is an element of certainty now in what the All Blacks must do - beat Italy and Uruguay (convincingly and with some demonstrable form) then overcome the World Number 1 team. Ignoring the potential semi and final for the moment, if the All Blacks want to conquer some demons, they have the perfect pathway. Can they beat Ireland? Yes, they can - but they need their best team on the paddock throughout - well selected and without injuries or being sent off. Discipline is key. They did actually beat Ireland once last year (which everybody has now forgotten!) and were, in fact, the last team to do so. Ireland have to break some major records of their own to win this World Cup - which creates pressure of its own too.
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