U18: France Make Many Changes
In Round 2 of SARU’s Under-18 International Series, France Under-18 play England Under-18, old rugby rivals in what the French call Le Crunch. The match is at Paarl Gim on Tuesday, 13 August 2019.
France have made 11 changes to their starting XV. The only ones still starting are Éric Boussard, Léo Barré who is moved from flyhalf to inside centre, Benjamin Descamps who is moved from fullback to left wing, and Maxime Baudonne.
France’s coach Sébastien Calvet said: “Despite the victory [over SA Schools A], we have made a logical rotation since one of the objectives of this tour is to evaluate the best French potential. The goal of the group is not to be satisfied with the first match but rather to build power throughout the tournament especially in the area of defence.
Calvet pointed out that tighthead Abel Da Cunha of Racing had suffered an ankle injury and would be replaced by Colomiers’s Toma Kolokilagi, Colomiers right pillar.
Calvet ended saying: “Finally, the whole group is thinking of Benoist Arin, our physiotherapist who had to leave us for family reasons. We hope we can present him with a victory!”
France: 15 Mathéo Garcia, 14 Éric Boussard, 13 Logan Tabet, 12 Léo Barré, 11 Benjamin Descamps, 10 Louis Foursans Bourdette, 9 Nolann Le Garrec (captain), 8 Théo Ntamack, 7 Maxime Baudonne, 6 Baptiste Prcanovic, 5 Louis Descoux, 4 Mathéo Desjeux, 3 Thomas Cretu, 2 Victor Montgaillard, 1 Pierre-Emmanuel Pacheco
Replacements: 16 Thomas Moukoro, 17 Sacha Idoumi, 18 Benjamin Boudou, 19 Noah Kanika, 20 Wesley Lindor, 21 Kilian Tixeront, 22 Mahamadou Coulibaly, 23 Paul Jambon, 24 Ethan Randle, 25 Philippe Savelli, 26 Enzo Lanzutti, 27 Jessy Maizier, 28 Thomas Kolokilagi
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Local
Television match official: Joey Klaaste-Salmans (South Africa)
Fixtures, Round 2 – Tuesday, 13 August 2019 at Paarl Gimnasium
13.00: SA Schools A vs Wales Under-18
14.30: SA Schools vs Argentina Under-18
16.00: England Under-18 vs France Under-18
Results, Round 1
France Under-18 vs South African Schools A, 43-19
Argentina Under-18 vs England Under-18, 29-19
South African Schools vs Wales Under-18, 23-13
