The horrors of high intensity training. The culmination of the weeks of training for the XV of France, they set the bar for the energy to be used during the weekend in matches. By definition, therefore, you have to go all out. And even if the players are always there to remind you that, all the same, “it’s intense, but we don’t make stupid tackles”, these are sometimes enough to break a Matthieu Jalibert.
The Bordeaux opener, hit in the left ankle, left the lawn in Marcoussis, looking bad and supported by two staff members. A few hours later, he appeared in the list of 14 players left at the disposal of their club, and will therefore not play the crunch on Saturday against England, at Twickenham.
The absence of the designated replacement for Romain Ntamack in Blue leaves a place on the bench for another “finisher”, within a group that will try to beat the XV de la Rose for the first time at home since 2005. He could be the opener of La Rochelle Antoine Hastoy or the back of Stade Toulousain Melvyn Jaminet.