France 30-man list

[Darhf]

The Laporte 30-men selection for the World cup has been announced:

Forwards :
Marconnet (Stade Français), De Villiers (Stade Français), Milloud (Bourgoin), Poux (Toulouse), Ibanez (Wasps), Bruno (Sale), Szarzewski (Stade Français), Pelous (Toulouse), Thion (Biarritz), Nallet (Castres), Chabal (Sale), Betsen (Biarritz), Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Vermeulen (Clermont), Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Martin (Stade Français), Nyanga
(Toulouse).

Backs :
Mignoni (Clermont), Elissalde (Toulouse), Beauxis (Stade Français), Michalak (Toulouse), Skrela (Stade Français), Dominici (Stade Français), Heymans (Toulouse), Clerc (Toulouse), Rougerie (Clermont), Jauzion (Toulouse), Traille (Biarritz), Marty (Perpignan), Poitrenaud (Toulouse).



Backup list in case of injury :
Kayser (Stade Français), Emmanueli (Clermont), Mas (Perpignan), Papé (Castres), Lambolley (Toulouse), Dusautoir (Toulouse), Magne (London Irish), Yachvili (Biarritz), Boyet (Bourgoin), Liebenberg (Stade Français), Grandclaude (Perpignan)


My observations:

Chabal made it in the first 30.
Laporte couldn't leave out one of the four wingers (Dominici, Clerc, Rougerie, Heymans)

Neither Fritz or Castagnaide are in either list.

Mignoni earned his place during the 6 nations and kicked yachvili out :bravo:

 

[thomas]

the list suggests that Chabal could be tried as a 2nd row instead of n.8



feel sorry for Papé, I think he deserved a place...



the list also includes no real "second centre" specialist, maybe Traille will have a go at no.13



... we'll see

 

[tituslechmakus]

i was surprised of yachvili, who is for me better than ellisalde. maybe the bad season of biarritz is the reason of that choice even if he's not the most responsible in their horrible match against northampton (the key match for me). i was also surprised that castegniede is not in the backup list. and the reason we've got 4 wingers is that heymans could also play fullback. laporte needs different profiles of wingers, depending of the opponent. we could need more the power of rougerie or the speed of clerc ...

for chabal, laporte said on the radio that it was a shame that he hadn't been formed as a second row ...
and traille will be the n°13. i think our major strengh is this pair of centers, traille jauzion.

the question is : who will be the starting fly half, skrela or michalak ?

 

[thomas]

well, we need a reliable kicker, and Michalak has not kicked much this season,



So I guess Skrela will be 1st choice, and Michalak should only played when Elissalde is at no.9

 

[candybum]

isnt Castagnaide going to retire at the end of this year?

he didn't have a great tour here in NZ, can't reallly blame him though no one had a good tour, chabal the only guy that stood out imo

but he should've had his fairy tale ending, having the WC in france

and i'm surprised not to see magne in that list (apart from the backup) i really rate him as a loose forward

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Sad for Castagnaide for not being present, even in the backup list....
We will only have Poitrenaud as a pure back....and he sometimes makes me feel nervous indefense !!!

No worries for the wings exept will the ball come down to them ????

 

[tituslechmakus]

well Magne has gone down last 2 seasons ... and with Betsen, Chabal, Harinordoquy and Vermeulen, its quite hard to find him a space. few years ago he would have been in injuried this year he would also be at the wc.
Concerning Poitrenaud i was thinking the same as you Mr.cyclopede but with the last 6N i've been a bit reassured, he didn't do **** under pressure (not as in the Hcup final few years ago)

 

[shtove]

That's a lot of backrow players (why Betsen instead of Magne?), outhalfs, and wingers. It leaves limited selection at second row, centre, and fullback. Interesting, but what are the French thinking?

Glad to see Elissalde instead of Yachvili. And Nyanga is back in the mix.

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

The couple of times I've seen poitrenaud play I've been quite impressed. As for any other fullback, I'm disappointed for castagnede but even more so for elhorga who I've found to be quite talented as well. Chabal is a wrecking machine but sometimes strikes me as too much of a bully boy and not much skill. It's a good thing that all four wings were taken since all of them are talented players dominici and rougerie provide a little more experience while clerc and heymans are dynamic runners and have scored some nice tries in the Top 14. Michalak is my favorite 10 so I'm happy to see him in the squad, but after the injuries he's had I would say that Skrela is going to start over him. I haven't seen much of the last six nations so i don't know mignoni very well, but Elisalde has got some quick feet which I think is very suited to the french style of play. As for the centres, they are more than adequately covered with jauzion and traille, although I would have picked Fritz over Marty. As for the pack, I don't really know that many players very well but I'm happy to see both remy martin and yannick nyanga both make it. Nyanga especially is a strong runner even though he's a smaller flanker.

 

[thomas]

... weird selection still...



If Poitrenaud or Jauzion gets injured then we can forget about this WC...



Very unsafe to pick only one fullback, even when Domi, Heymans and Traille can fit there...



Skrela can play at centre, but... well, do we really need a team where the Lock is normally a no.8, the centre normally a Fly-Half, etc....



We'll see how they perform against England on test-matches (got 2 tickets to see them in Marseille :bana: )



I can't wait to see how the backs performs, with the kind of forms they showed at the end of the season, and if Laporte has enough guts to play Jauzion at 12 with Traille at 13... this will be a deadly backline,



Yep!!

 

[phoenix]

Thats seems a like strange squad to me. Has Harinordoquy or Martin every played lock? becasue i dont rate Chabel's handling/catching and I personally think Pelous should of retired a couple of years ago. And also who are the back-ups to Poitrenaud and Heymans? surely you cant only have only 2 players that can play fullback in a squad

 

[thomas]

Thats seems a like strange squad to me. Has Harinordoquy or Martin every played lock? becasue i dont rate Chabel's handling/catching and I personally think Pelous should of retired a couple of years ago. And also who are the back-ups to Poitrenaud and Heymans? surely you cant only have only 2 players that can play fullback in a squad [/b]

Traille and Dominici can both play fullback... regarding Pelous, we'll see... if he's up to the level, then it's fine, otherwise we WILL have a problem!!



In terms of tactics, I don't really se what Laporte wants with 3 out-halves ... The first Idea was to start with Skrela, keeping Michalak for the last 20 min. to speed up the game with his pace and side-steps... but the plan could be to includes Beauxis to hold the score with his kicking....

 

[Darhf]

Skrela can also play centre (It's his best position IMO),
Michalak can also play scrum-half (his initial post) and centre (he does it sometimes) ,
I've also read somewhere that Rougerie played a lot as a fullback earlier in his carreer.

Laporte choosed the most polyvalent players.

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

So, the people's choice for captain of this squad is?? Ibanez or Pelous? frankly, I don't know Pelous well enough so I'm leaning towards Ibanez.

 

[DonBilly]

Very, very bad news for France. Vermeulen is out, he has to go through surgery and won't be available for the RWC.

Chabal is likely to play 8 again and Papé recalled.

 

[shtove]

Pape back - isn't that good news for the balance of the pack? Chabal at 8 is what I always wanted to see.

 

[goranski]

have to say that i am really surprised the Yachvili was left out completely - from what i've seen his place kicking has been inconsistent yet he's still a great playmaker kicking out of hand or passing, plus he lead Biarritz to the semi's of Top14 and played in this year's Six Nations not to mention his experience in the Heineken Cup over the last two seasons - he deserves a place on the bench at least

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Not really agree with you.

The only part of game he could pretend to be good in is on kickings (gaining distance or up and under), and he didn't show in the last few month good performances there.

Concerning ball in hand game, and distribution, I always found him really too slow and too much predictible.

About Pape's return, has it to be counted as a change in the backup list or is this one is not considered as definitly closed ? In that case, Pape would have a replacent in it (I tend to believe that, as not all of the countries have already published their list).

 

[MunsterMan]

Mignoni is the best scrum half in the NH at the moment and Ellisalde can cover fly-half. In a crisis Michalak can play Scrum Half too so you can justify his decision i suppose.

 

[shtove]

The only part of game he [Yachvilli] could pretend to be good in is on kickings (gaining distance or up and under), and he didn't show in the last few month good performances there.

Concerning ball in hand game, and distribution, I always found him really too slow and too much predictible.

About Pape's return, has it to be counted as a change in the backup list or is this one is not considered as definitly closed ? In that case, Pape would have a replacent in it (I tend to believe that, as not all of the countries have already published their list). [/b]

Ellisalde and Mignoni are better players. Simple.

And why has France announced its squad so early? Either Laporte is playing a cute game, or he's in chaos. Pffft!