Racing-Métro's Francois Steyn, the youngest World Cup
winner, will be among a host of star names pulling on the
French Barbarians shirt this weekend as part of the 75th
anniversary celebrations of FIRA (Fédération
Internationale de Rugby Amateur).
Steyn –
who played for the Barbarians last season - will be
accompanied by the likes of French internationals Sébastien
Bruno, Dimitri Yachvili and Florian Fritz, as well as Fiji’s
Vilimoni Delasau as they take on a Europe XV at the
Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels, Belgium, on Saturday.
France
was instrumental in setting up FIRA in 1934 and played an
integral role in the spreading of rugby union throughout
Europe at a time when the national team had been barred from
inclusion in the Home Nations tournament. In its present
incarnation – as part of the IRB – FIRA organizes the
European Nations Cup.
The
Europe XV draws heavily from players currently with French
clubs and has 10 different nationalities in its 22-man squad
- including Castres' former England international Phil
Christophers - which is being jointly coached by Portugal’s
Tomas Morais and Poland’s Tomasz Putra.
French Barbarians:
Laurent Emmanuelli (Toulon), Sébastien Bruno (Toulon),
Benoît Lecouls (Toulouse), Jérôme Thion (Biarritz), Loïc
Jacquet (Clermont), Grégory Le Corvec (Perpignan), Matthieu
Lièvremont (Dax), Pierre Rabadan (Stade Français), Dimitri
Yachvili (Biarritz), Julien Peyrelongue (Biarritz), Vilimoni
Delasau (Montauban), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), François
Steyn (Racing Métro 92), Farid Sid (Perpignan), Jérôme
Porical (Perpignan), Arnauld Tchougong (Bourgoin), Mathieu
Blin (Stade Français), Ludovic Michaux (Castres), Romain
Teulet (Castres), Pierre-Manuel Garcia (Castres),
Jean-Baptiste Peyras (Bayonne)
Coaches: Patrice Lagisquet, Laurent Rodriguez
Europe XV:
Mamuka Magrakvelidze (Tarbes, Georgia), Juan Murre (Auch,
Portugal), Jean Philippe Genevois (Bourgoin, France),
Benjamin Noirot (Racing-Métro 92, France), Bastien Sipielski
(Marmande, Poland), Vincent Debaty (Clermont, Belgium),
Mathieu Versfeld (ASUB Waterloo, Belgium), Andrey Ostrikov
(Aurillac, Russia), Sorin Socol (Oloron, Romania), Alex
Manta (Lyon, Romania), Robert Mohr (La Rochelle, Germany),
Mathew Clarkin (Montauban, England), Luis Pisarra
(Agronomia, Portugal), Pablo Feijóo (CRC Madrid, Spain)
Nicolas Laharrague (Perpignan, France), Samuele Pace
(Viadana, Italy) Ionut Dimofte (Baïa Mare, Romania), Philip
Christophers (Castres, England), Miguel Portela (Direito,
Portugal), César Sempere (CRC Madrid, Spain), David Chartier
(Bayonne, Poland)
Manager: Michel Arpaillange (FIRA-AER)
Coaches: Tomas Morais (Portugal), Thomasz Putra
(Poland)
Elsewhere in France, Richard Dourthe’s
drawn out departure from Bayonne has now been
officially confirmed. The former French centre had been
asked to step back from first-team coaching after the club’s
disastrous start to the season, with a group of senior
players prompting president Francis Salagoity to take
action.
In his place the president temporarily
promoted Jean-Philippe Coyola and Thierry Mentières
to be joint first-team coaches, but Bayonne’s latest reverse
– a 14-19 defeat at Brive – has resulted in a further
restructuring.
Top 14 Table
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Top 14 try-scorers
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Top 14 Results
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Top 14
Fixtures
Dourthe’s position as sporting director has
now ended and Salagoity has announced that Mentières will be
the official head coach, with Coyola acting as his
assistant.
Bayonne, who narrowly missed out on Heineken
Cup qualification last season, are currently languishing in
13th position having lost nine of their 12 league
games to date.
Perpignan captain Nicolas Mas
has become the latest player to sign a new deal with the
current French champions (and Top 14 leaders). The
29-year-old prop has put pen to paper on a three-year
contract extension, taking up to 2013.
Mas’ new deal means that the French
international is likely to remain with Perpignan throughout
his playing career. “It is a very commitment,” he confirmed.
It follows similar recent extensions by
Maxime Mermoz, David Marty, Jérôme Porical and Jean-Philippe
Grandclaude.
Montauban have signed South African
utility back Len Olivier until the end of the season
as cover for the injured Regis Lespinas, who is out for
eight months after undergoing surgery on ruptured knee
ligaments.
The 23-year-old can play at fly-half, in the
centres or at full-back, and arrives fresh from the Natal
Sharks.
Lannemezan’s captain Damien
Costanzo has been handed a 40-day ban for his red card
against Aix-en-Provence in ProD2. Costanzo was
charged with ‘brutality’ and failing in his duty as captain’
and is now suspended until November 26.
ProD2 Table
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ProD2 Top scorers
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ProD2
Fixtures & Results
Lannemezan are currently bottom of ProD2 and
without a single win, and the bad news kept coming at the
LNR’s disciplinary hearing. The club, along with
Aix-en-Provence, was further fined €5,000 – of which €3,000
was suspended – after the ill-tempered meeting between the
two sides promoted from Federale 1 last season.
In addition Lannemezan received a second fine
of €5,000 more for “incidents which followed the match”.
