International: Dupuy set
for France call-up; Australia's Gower gets nod for Italian
job
19 May 2009
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End of term Blues: Julien Dupuy
is set to get the French nod
Photo: Michael Paler |
Leicester’s want-away scrum-half Julien Dupuy is expected to
be the only newcomer when France coach Marc Lièvremont names
his summer touring squad today.
Dupuy
has been in outstanding club form of late – helping
Leicester to the Guinness Premiership title and the final of
the Heineken Cup – and would make a logical replacement for
the injured Sebastien Tillous-Borde. He will fight it out
with Bourgoin’s Morgan Parra for the starting position.
Dupuy is
being heavily tipped to join Stade
Francais this summer, and his selection could
signal the end of the line for the likes of Stade
Toulousain’s Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Biarritz’s Dimitri
Yachvili.
Lièvremont is set to keep faith with the squad that proved
so inconsistent in this year’s Six Nations Championship as
he undertakes two Tests against New Zealand and one against
Australia.
He has
already confirmed that he will not pick any of the players
in the Top 14 final (on June 6) for the opening game (on
June 13), but that has not stopped Pierre Camou (president
of the Federation Francaise de Rugby) from piling on the
pressure.
Camou
said he expected at least one win from the three games and
added that playing away from home was no longer a viable
excuse.
“Despite
the respect I have for our opponents, I’m expecting
excellence and victory. The period for experimenting is
over. The constraints of playing away from home no longer
constitute an excuse,” he added.
France
play New Zealand in Dunedin on June 13 and Wellington on
June 20, before flying on to play Australia in Sydney on
June 27.
Meanwhile, France has also named its squad for the London
and Edinburgh stages of the IRB Sevens tournament.
Yohann
Durquet (Mont-de-Marsan), Julien Patey (Blagnac), Manoel
Dall'Igna (Montpellier), Anthony Poujol (Beziers), Paul
Albaladejo (Dax), Mathieu Acebes (Bayonne), Jacques Boussuge
(Montpellier), Marc Andreu (Toulon), Vincent Inigo
(Bayonne), Combezou (Clermont Auvergne), Michel (Perpignan)
and Cailleaud (Brive).
Elsewhere, on the international scene, Bayonne’s
Craig Gower has been selected
by Italy for their forthcoming summer tour of
Australia and New Zealand. Gower, 31, qualifies for Italy
through his grandfather, and also holds an Italian passport.
The
former Penrith Panthers rugby league star will become a
double international if he makes his Italian debut during
the tour, having previously represented Australia’s rugby
league side – the Kangaroos.
Gower
was one of four uncapped players in Nick Mallett’s 30-man
squad, with the Italy coach including six other French-based
stars - Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Sergio
Parisse (Stade Francais), Salvatore Perugini
(Stade Toulousain), Fabio Staibano (Castres),
Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Gonzalo Canale
(Clermont Auvergne).
However, Racing-Metro pair Andrea Masi
and Carlo Gestuccia have both been granted
compassionate leave. The pair hail from the Abbruzzo region,
which suffered a major earthquake last month, and have been
allowed time off to be with their families.
The
Italian squad is due to depart for Melbourne on June 3,
taking on Australia on June 13 in Canberra and June 20 in
Melbourne. They then fly on to New Zealand to face the All
Blacks on June 27 in Christchurch.
Mallet
is under no illusions about the size of the task they face.
“I think this tour will be one of the most difficult Italy
have ever undertaken. We’re coming up against two of the
best teams in the world, but it’s a good opportunity for us
to progress, especially for our youngest players,” he said.
Italy
has lost its last nine matches.
Perpignan’s departing scrum-half Chris Cusiter will
captain a youthful Scotland ‘A’ side on their tour of
Romania. Cusiter has been granted leave by the Top 14
play-off hopefuls in order to undertake the tour.
In other
news, Brive’s Argentine winger Horacio Agulla (24)
has signed on for another season, while hooker Jawad Djoudi
has joined Toulon.
Bourgoin’s South African flanker Jooste Wessel has
extended his stay with the European Challenge Cup finalists
after agreeing a new two-year deal.
Fly-half
Benjamin Boyet, meanwhile, is urging his team-mates to dig
deep for one last effort against Northampton on Friday. “It
would be fantastic to finish off the season with some
silverware and being so close to achieving what we never
thought possible at the start of the season is amazing, and
we can’t let the fans down now,” he said.
“It will
be a superb event and, now that we have won games away from
home, we have no excuses any more and winning a title at
Twickenham would be even more rewarding and significant,”
added Boyet.
ERC –
who bowed to Bourgoin’s demands for a change of venue for
the final from its original choice of Gloucester’s Kingsholm
– have announced that the Stade de France will host the 2010
Heineken Cup final. It will be the third time the final has
been held in France, with Bordeaux (1998) and the
Parc-des-Princes (2001) having previously hosted the
showpiece game.
Australian outfit ACT Brumbies have confirmed they
will be touring France as part of their pre-season
preparations in July. They have already secured a game
against Toulon, and are trying to line up a second match
against Stade Francais – coached by Australian Ewen
McKenzie.
Finally, it’s official.
France’s Top 14 tournament is the best attended domestic
competition in Europe. Average attendances of 12,300
outstrip those of the Guinness Premiership (11,500) and the
Magners League (8,126).
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