Staff Reporter
PARIS, Sept. 20 — France is preparing to recall their top players for the upcoming Rugby World Cup Pool A match against Namibia, aiming to regain their form after a lacklustre performance against Uruguay.
Les Bleus started strong with a 27-13 victory against New Zealand in their opening match. However, their reserve team was disappointed with a 27-12 win over Uruguay last week.
The recent training sessions leading up to the Namibia match indicate that scrumhalf Antoine Dupont and flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert, among others, will return to the starting lineup. Prop Cyril Baille is also likely to start as he returns from injury, along with centre Jonathan Danty, replacing Yoram Moefana, who struggled against New Zealand and Uruguay.
With a two-week gap between the Namibia game and the clash against Italy in the Pool A finale, France’s key players are expected to be heavily involved on Thursday to avoid an extended period without competitive testing.
Matthieu Jalibert emphasized the importance of match play, saying, “What’s important for us is to play matches. We’ve also got plenty of weeks of training ahead of us, we’re working hard, and we’ve got plenty of time to build up momentum.”
Center Gael Fickou echoed this sentiment, stating, “The more matches we play, the better.”
While New Zealand dominated Namibia with a 71-3 victory, France aims to focus on their own performance rather than trying to outdo the three-time world champions.
Jalibert emphasized, “The All Blacks played a big game, but we’re not aiming to score more than them or send out a message. What we want is to play a complete match, in attack and in defence, to replicate in a match what we work on in training.”
France is eager to rediscover their form against Namibia and build momentum ahead of their upcoming clash against Italy in two weeks.
