2023-08-14 15:15:36
The XV of France has lost one of its leaders. Injured in the left knee, Romain Ntamack will not participate in the World Cup from September 8. An announcement that saddened everyone, starting with his father, Émile, a former French international. Asked by AFP, the former fullback admitted that “it didn’t smell good” since the injury of the Blues opener in the last preparation match against Scotland (30-27) on Saturday. in Saint Etienne.
How did Romain welcome the news of his package?
EMILE NTAMACK. It just fell, we are still a little in shock, even if he felt it coming since his injury on Saturday. We were hoping for a pleasant surprise this morning (Monday), but we had no illusions. It didn’t smell good. He had already taken blows to the knee and there he felt that it was not as usual. Even if the doctors tried to be reassuring in the locker room by saying that it didn’t look too bad, there is also the feeling of the body, which does not lie.
It’s all the more cruel as the World Cup starts in less than a month…
When you fight for four years for a deadline, you come close and it slips away from under your nose, it’s sad, of course… It’s going to take a little time to digest. He is combative, I am not worried about his return. But a World Cup in your country is very rare. He will fight to try to make others, but they will not be in France whatever happens. Now, what to do? We are not going to feel sorry for fate. We must put things into perspective, the World Cup continues. There are the buddies, everything they worked for. You have to be fully behind, it’s up to them to take the torch.
To what extent can the absence of Romain penalize the Blues?
The objective will not change. If we work with an expanded workforce under the Galthié era, with 42 players, it is also to compensate for this kind of event. We must not be mistaken: we lose an important element, but that’s how the collective will adapt. No one is irreplaceable. It will be necessary to find the resources to continue what has been undertaken and what they are fighting for.
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