The news of the Blues
Four days before its last decisive group match, against Italy in Lyon (Friday 21h), the XV of France recorded, this weekend, the long-awaited return to the group of Antoine Dupont. Arrived in Aix-en-Provence late Saturday night, the star of the Blues was content to ride fitness bike this Sunday and will follow a program of adaptation of recovery.
To discover
- World Cup 2023: Schedule and results
- World Cup 2023: rankings by Pools
Meanwhile, his teammates trained at the Georges Carcassonne stadium in the late afternoon after two days of rest. A session that gave some clues on the next team composition of Fabien Galthié, which will be known Wednesday at 15h. Maxime Lucu is tipped to start in scrum-half while Charles Ollivon could wear the captain's armband against the Italians. This Monday, a new collective session is planned at the Provencal base camp with the objective of ramping up until Friday's meeting.
See alsoXV of France: Lucu in pole to replace Dupont against Italy
Today's Statement
«
We have all week to analyze their game. We have obviously watched all their games but we will really look at their qualities and shortcomings in the coming days, promises the Argentine second or third line Guido Petti about the upcoming duel against Japan (Sunday, October 8 at 13pm). It's a big game ahead of us, so we'll have to be ready. It's a real eighth final, we don't have the right to make mistakes. From our first game and our defeat, we know that we are playing for our survival in each of our outings. It will be the same against the Japanese." In this final stretch of the group stage, this Japan-Argentina, a real final for 2nd place in Group D, will not be missed under any circumstances. As well as France-Italy and Ireland-Scotland.
Stat of the day: 70
During its walk of health against Romania on Saturday (84-0) - its 2nd largest success in the World Cup - Scotland has panicked the statistics. In 80 minutes, the players of the XV du Chardon beat 70 defenders, a performance achieved only for the 3rd time in history in a World Cup match. It hadn't happened since 2003 and Australia's 85 breakaway tackles against Namibia. Add to that Darcy Graham who became the 2nd Scot to score a quadruple in the competition (after Gavin Hastings against Ivory Coast in 1995) and Ben Healy, author of 11 successful kicks (the record of 12 belongs to Leon MacDonald against Tonga in 2003), and you get an exceptional performance, at least in terms of numbers, Gregor Townsend's men.
Tweet of the day
Despite the large South African victory against Tonga on Sunday night (49-18), the two teams came together after the match to commune together. An image both rare but usual when Pacific teams compete.
The question of the day
As every day, Le Figaro invites you to learn a little more about the world of oval:
Rugby World Cup: from soft choreography to war dance, the astonishing evolution of the haka of All Blacks
