2023-09-09 12:35:55
Julien Marchand only played twelve minutes once morest New Zealand, before being replaced by Peato Mauvaka, on September 8, 2023, at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Debis). STEPHANIE LECOCQ / REUTERS
Will the Blues once once more be deprived of one of their senior players? This is the question and the current concern of the staff of the XV of France following the injury to Julien Marchand. Friday September 8, the victory of Fabien Galthié’s men once morest New Zealand (27-13) at the opening of the Rugby World Cup was overshadowed by the early exit of the hooker. From the twelfth minute, the Toulouse player left the Stade de France pitch with his head down, following being hit in the left thigh in a ruck.
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The Blues coach estimated following the match that Marchand was suffering from ” tear “ to a hamstring “in view of the symptoms”. And this injury might cause him to miss the rest of the group stage, namely the matches once morest Uruguay (Thursday), Namibia and Italy. According to The team and the Midi-Olympiquethe Toulouse player, who underwent initial examinations on Friday following the match, might be absent for four to five weeks.
Saturday morning, the attack coach, Laurent Labit, indicated that the usual starting hooker of the Blues would take new exams at the start of the week, which will allow his period of unavailability to be refined. ” We hope it’s not very serious. Once we have the diagnosis and the verdict of his injury, we will make a decision. » The Blues staff will then have two solutions: wait for the Toulouse player to recover by focusing in particular on the two other hookers in the group – Peato Mauvaka and Pierre Bourgarit – or replace Julien Marchand with another player. In this case, Fabien Galthié might probably rely on Castres Gaëtan Barlot, present in the list of twelve reservists.
Another injured in the XV of France
“We still have two heels in the group. We also have pillars who can play hooker. There’s no problem. There’s no reason to panic: we’re not going to rush, we have a match [contre l’Uruguay] which will arrive on Thursday where, in any case, Julien was not planned in the rotation »continued Laurent Labit.
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Even if Peato Mauvaka took over on Friday for nearly 70 minutes once morest the All Blacks – and is used to facing the best teams at his club Stade Toulouse, where he rubs shoulders with Julien Marchand – this injury is a new one bad news for the Blues. The French XV has already had to do without La Rochelle center Jonathan Danty and Toulouse left pillar Cyril Baille for the opening match, both forced to withdraw due to physical problems. If these two players should make their return during the competition, this will not be the case for fly-half Romain Ntamack, deprived of the World Cup due to a serious knee injury in a preparation match.
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