Pelous injury dims French revival
PARIS: Just when host France thought it had got its World Cup campaign back on track with an 87-10 rout of minnows Namibia, it was rocked by the news that Fabien Pelous will miss Friday's crunch encounter with Ireland.
The winners will be all but assured of a quarterfinal spot. But 'Les Bleus' will be without lock forward Pelous, who injured his knee shortly before the end against Namibia which followed France's opening match loss to Argentina.
France coach Bernard Laporte has delayed naming his side until Wednesday.
His Ireland counterpart Eddie O'Sullivan made a shock change by naming three-times capped Eoin Reddan to replace Peter Stringer in the pivotal position of scrum-half.
O'Sullivan didn't even give Stringer, a veteran of 79 Tests, a place on the bench for one of the biggest matches of his coaching career.
"It's a tough one because Peter has been a stalwart of the team but his form lately hasn't been his best," O'Sullivan explained on Monday.
England called up Toby Flood after center Jamie Noon was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury sustained during the struggling champion 36-0 thrashing by South Africa last Friday.
Flood can also cover England's problem position of outside-half. Both its first-choice No 10s, Jonny Wilkinson (ankle) and Toby Flood missed the Springbok mauling because of injury.
But England fans were given some good news when Wilkinson declared himself ready for this weekend's Pool A match against Samoa.
"I'm fit now. So I am, as we stand, now available for selection," Wilkinson said in his newspaper column.
Samoa, surprisingly beaten by Tonga last time out, still believe it can cause an upset in Nantes. "Sunday's result hasn't helped us but we can still qualify," said full-back Gavin Williams.
Meanwhile Wales found itself facing up to the prospect of talismanic captain Gareth Thomas being ruled out of the remainder of the Pool phase after the 33-year-old back damaged rib cartilage during the 32-20 defeat against Australia in Cardiff.
While Wales fret over Thomas, Australia appeared to have unearthed a new star in 21-year-old Berrick Barnes, who stepped into the shoes of injured outside-half Stephen Larkham at the Millennium Stadium and turned in an accomplished display.
"If he keeps going the way he is he'll make (for) some good selection decisions come quarterfinal, semifinal time," said John Connolly, the Wallabies' coach.
A feature of this World Cup has been a crackdown on dangerous play.
But Tonga captain Nili Latu insisted his team's disciplinary record was undeserved after Hale T Pole's red card and two other yellows alomost cost it dear in what turned out to be a 19-15 defeat of Samoa.
"That's not what Tonga's all about."We're here to play rugby and we just want to make that clear."
AFP
(China Daily 09/19/2007 page24)
