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France to wear rainbow laces in support of Thomas following attack

Wales great Gareth Thomas
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France will wear rainbow laces in their match against Fiji on Saturday in support of Wales great Gareth Thomas, who was attacked in Cardiff last weekend.

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Thomas – capped 100 times by Wales – claimed to have been targeted for his sexuality following his country’s 74-24 win against Tonga.

South Wales Police subsequently confirmed a 16-year-old boy had admitted assaulting Thomas and would be dealt with through restorative justice at the former player’s request.

French Rugby Federation vice-president Serge Simon has now revealed that France will sport the multicoloured laces in solidarity with Thomas, who won the 2005 Heineken Cup final with Toulouse.

“Dear Gareth Thomas. All of French Rugby is with you regarding the homophobic [assault] you’ve been victim of,” Simon tweeted.

“To show our support, the French rugby players will wear a rainbow shoe lace during the France-Fiji game on Saturday night.

“We’re all in with you in this matter.”

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Phantom 46 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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