France’s pivotal fly half David Skrela ruled out after shoulder injury – Rugby News
France’s national rugby union team, commonly known as Les Bleus, has sustained a blow to their ongoing 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign, as their star fly half, David Skrela, has been ruled out from the tournament. Officials have confirmed the omission of Skrela from Les Bleus’ remaining matches of their 2011 RWC campaign on Wednesday, September 14.
Skrela sustained an injury to his shoulder during France’s 2011 RWC opening encounter against Japan. France defeated Japan 47 – 21 in the Saturday, September 10 encounter at North Harbour Stadium, North Shore City.
Skrela took the field from the bench replacing Francois Trinh-Duc at the fly half position, during the 51st minute of Saturday’s game. Skrela injured his shoulder during the 61st minute and left the field. Morgan Parra replaced him at the fly half position and played in the rest of the match.
Later, Skrela underwent a series of tests to investigate the actual extent of the injury. The tests revealed the seriousness of the injury, which will take weeks of rehabilitation, making it impossible for Skrela to recover before the end of the RWC tournament.
Les Bleus head coach, Marc Lièvremont, has named Jean-Marc Doussain as a replacement in the team’s 2011 RWC 30-man squad. The move has raised a certain degree of criticism as Lièvremont has overlooked French international Frédéric Michalak for Doussain.
The 32-year-old Skrela has recently joined Clermont Auvergne after parting ways with Toulouse at the end of the 2010/11 Top 14 season.
Michalak is currently playing for the Sharks in the South African domestic rugby union competition called the 2011 ABSA Currie Cup tournament.
Supporting his decision, Lievremont said, “When we chose the squad, Michalak wasn't playing much for his club. He's played since in South Africa, but I haven't seen him play for a long time.”
The Toulouse born player made his international debut for France in 2001 and so far has made 23 appearances for them. He also scored 112 points for them and is a reliable kicking resource.
Jean-Marc Doussain’s inclusion in the squad has left Toulouse in a firefighting situation, which has forced them to send an SOS call to their former versatile backs player and current coach, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.
Elissalde has to come back from his retirement to give some options to Toulouse in their backs pack. Their sources are strongly depleted as their pivotal players are either injured or on national duties for their respective teams in the ongoing global tournament.
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