2023-08-14 11:47:25
A sledgehammer. It’s one of those hazards of preparation that all rugby players dread before a major competition like the World Cup (September 8-October 28) and it has just befallen one of the executives of the XV from France, fly half Romain Ntamack. Released injured on Saturday evening during the victory of the Blues against Scotland (30-27) in Saint-Étienne, the Toulousain had an MRI on Monday which revealed a rupture of a cruciate ligament in the left knee, according to information of our colleagues from The Team which we are able to confirm.
During the day on Sunday, the staff of the Blues had oscillated between concern, in the face of the pain felt the previous evening by the player after a knee-to-knee shock with his vis-à-vis Finn Russell, but also optimism, the articulation of the player not having inflated excessively. Hot on Saturday evening, coach Fabien Galthié had mentioned “a hyperextension of the knee, with a small ligament tension but nothing more”.
The verdict on Monday is therefore violent and it deprives the Blues of their master to play, the perfect partner of Antoine Dupont at the hinge. Since the start of Fabien Galthié’s mandate in 2020, the two Toulouse residents had established themselves as the ideal tandem to lead the game of the XV of France, the “ice” Ntamack perfectly complementing the “fire” Dupont. In the game of dispossession long advocated by the staff, the long and precise footwork of the son of Émile Ntamack, his calm under pressure and his sobriety made him an absolutely essential cog, without concealing his formidable qualities as an attacker.
Jalibert, Hastoy or Ramos to take up the torch?
In his absence, the list of Blues currently gathered in the Landes only has two openers, the Bordelais Matthieu Jalibert and the Rochelais Antoine Hastoy. Due to his seniority in the group, his rather convincing preparation match in Scotland on August 5 and his always positive start during the last autumn tour, the first named leaves with a head start on the second for a starting place for the World Cup. Unless the Toulousain Thomas Ramos, holder at the back but also able to evolve at the opening and who has for him to evolve in club with Antoine Dupont, also comes to mingle in the fight.
The competition between Ntamack and Jalibert, an opening half more focused on the attack but who was able to blend little by little into the game framework wanted by Galthié and his staff, caused a lot of talk during the first two years of Galthié’s mandate. . So much so that the staff had tested an association with the two players, Jalibert at the opening and Ntamack in the middle, during the November 2021 tour. position for the World Cup.
Ntamack package, Jalibert and Hastoy now seem guaranteed to be part of the list of 33 selected, which will be announced Monday August 21 by Fabien Galthié during the 1 p.m. newscast of TF1, knowing therefore that Thomas Ramos can also evolve in this position, as he did last Saturday night against Scotland after Ntamack’s exit. Sad omen…
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