Thomas Ramos, who left the World Cup last week due to an ankle injury, could line up in the Top 14 this weekend
French rugby is the gift that keeps on giving, with the next controversy never too far around the corner.
There’s always been a fierce rivalry between the club sides and national team, but things will take a new twist this weekend with Thomas Ramos set to play for Stade Toulousian against Castres Olympique on Saturday.
Ramos, who was the top points scorer in the Top 14 last season, was sent home from the Rugby World Cup in Japan last week after injuring his ankle in France’s surprisingly challenging match with the USA on October 2nd.
France head coach Jacques Brunel at the time said Ramos’ injury would keep him out of action for at least 10 days, which made it too much of a risk to carry the fullback in the squad.
“It’s a handicap for us,” Brunel said in Kumamoto last week. “We hope that in the next match nothing will happen. We will try to get [the replacements] to come as soon as possible.”
A 10-day injury would have presumably prevented Ramos from playing in France’s final two pool games against Tonga (October 6th) and England (October 12th).
Ironically, France’s final match with England has since been called off due to the approaching typhoon. Ramos would have also been an unlikely inclusion in France’s game with Tonga due to the short turn-around after the USA match. It’s entirely possible Ramos would have missed zero games that he was originally scheduled to play due to the injury, even if he’d remained with the squad.
Had the competition progressed as expected, carrying Ramos for 10 days without him being fit for selection would hardly be considered an unusual move anyway.
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New Zealand brought Brodie Retallick to the World Cup despite him only recovering from a shoulder injury in time for the All Blacks‘ third game of their campaign.
England have also persisted with Johnny May and Mako Vunipola, despite the pair missing a major chunk of the competition through injuries. It’s been a similar situation for Ireland with midfielder Robbie Henshaw, who will make his first appearance of the tournament in Saturday’s game with Samoa.
Admittedly, all three of the above players are guaranteed starters in their teams’ top sides and will play crucial roles in the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Regardless, Brunel made the decision to send Ramos back to France, and once a player has been replaced in a World Cup squad they are not able to return for any later matches in the competition.
Ramos has evidently since recovered from his ankle injury and will likely make his first appearance in this season’s Top 14 over the weekend.
“We have the administrative authorisation to play Thomas Ramos against Castres,” Stade Toulousian club president Didier Lacroix has said in advance of Toulous’s upcoming fixture.
“We will make a decision at the last minute with the medical staff who have been in touch with Les Bleus to discuss the matter.”
Great news for @FijiRugby as well as rugby fans everywhere!https://t.co/EcOPibkle4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 11, 2019
Toulouse’s match with Castres will take place fewer than 12 hours after France were scheduled to play England – 10 days after Ramos suffered the initial injury.
Toulouse, France’s historically most successful club and the 2017-18 Top 14 champions, are currently sitting on 13th on this year’s ladder – one spot away from automatic relegation.
Eight players from France’s initial 31-man squad are signed with Stade Toulousain for the current season.
France’s final pool game with England may have been called off, but it wasn’t the first of Les Bleus’ matches which was threatened by adverse weather conditions:
Comments on RugbyPass
Pick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
15 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
15 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to comments