Willemse on Itoje: 'He is not a lock'
SPOTLIGHT: France’s South African-born lock Paul Willemse believes England star Maro Itoje is more suited to the back row than the second row.
France will face England at Twickenham in Round Four of the Six Nations on March 11 and Willemse is likely to come up against the mobile England lock.
The 28-year-old Itoje is third in the standings for tackles made and line-outs won so far this campaign.
“The first thing I always say about him is that he’s not a lock, he’s a ‘loosie’ in my head,” Willemse said.
“He’s a player that can disrupt the match.
“I’ve also learned a few things watching him play to add to my game.
“He’s capable of disturbing your momentum in the match, just doing things to throw you a bit on the back foot.
“You have to respect his quality of disrupting a match,” he added.
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#ICYMI: France beat Scotland 32-21 in the Six Nations at the Stade de France on Sunday to end the visitors’ hopes of a first Grand Slam since 1999. 👇#SixNations #France #Scotland #FRAvSCO https://t.co/M5u2dNOi2V
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Meanwhile, Willemse said his team’s poor recent record at Twickenham is the driving force heading to England in two weeks’ time.
Les Bleus last won in the English capital in 2007.
Since Fabien Galthie took over as head coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, France have beaten every opponent they have faced at least once and took the national record to 14 straight victories before February 11’s loss at Ireland.
“We’ll see what makes Twickenham such a difficult place to go,” Willemse told AFP after beating Scotland 32-21.
“With this team, we haven’t done it so far but it motivates us. We’ve broken almost all of the records with this team, it’s one of the few that’s left.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to use it as extra motivation to go and break that record because it’s there for us to do,” he added.
Sunday’s bonus point win over Scotland came after this year’s World Cup hosts led 19-7 at the break. It also keeps their slender hopes of retaining the Six Nations title alive.
France managed to keep the in-form visitors at bay despite just a four-point lead with 11 minutes to play at the Stade de France in a game where both sides were shown red cards.
“We kind of expected them to come back into it,” 30-year-old Willemse said.
“We knew they had a good start to the tournament and it wasn’t going to be easy against them. It never is,” he added.
Willemse’s Montpellier and Test teammate Mohamed Haouas was sent off for a headbutt after lock Grant Gilchrist was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle.
Tighthead prop Haouas was making his first France start since November 2021. He was also shown a red card against Scotland in 2020.
The prop is likely to miss the trip to Twickenham with a suspension.
“I know he’s sad because it was his chance to be back in the team, to show what he can do,” said Pretoria-born Willemse.
“He had trained well for weeks, he was on-form. No-one is annoyed with him, it’s just a shame.”
AFP
