Marc Lievremont announces France’s final 30-man squad for 2011 Rugby World Cup
The governing body of the Rugby Union in France, the Fédération Française de Rugby, has announced France’s final 30-man squad for their 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign. The French national Rugby Union team, commonly known as Les Blues or Les Tricolores,
head coach, Marc Lievremont, listed the squad at the end of their second and last pre-World Cup encounter against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday, August 20.
The French squad handed over a 26 – 22 defeat to Ireland on August 20, following their 19 – 12 home victory against their European rival a week earlier.
Marc Lievremont has selected his final 30-man squad from the already shortened 32-man training roster for the 2011 RWC.
The experienced duo of Sylvain Marconnet and Thomas Domingo failed to make up the Les Blues final list. Commenting on their exclusion, Lievremont said, “It was a difficult choice. I always said the best two props in France were Thomas [Domingo] and Fabian
[Barcella] and I said I hoped to retain one in the squad, and that's the decision I've made.”
Providing the details, Lievremont confirmed that Thomas Domingo has failed to recover from his knee injury, which he sustained in April earlier this year. Domingo’s absence can be termed as a major blow for the French 2011 RWC campaign, as he was their first
choice prop in the 2011 Six Nations campaign.
Lievremont’s squad consists of 13 players who represented France in their 2007 RWC campaign. England defeated France in the semi-final of the 2007 RWC.
The 13 players include the likes of Jean-Baptiste Poux, Lionel Nallet, Bonnaire, Nicolas Mas, Dimitri Szarzewski, Imanol Harinordoquy, Thierry Dusautoir , Vincent Clerc, Cédric Heymans and Damien Traille, David Marty, David Skrela, and Aurelien Rougerie.
The quartet of the Rougerie, Poux, Traille and Harinordoquy has also represented France in the 2003 RWC campaign.
Toulouse back row forward Thierry Dusautoir, has been appointed as captain to lead the French campaign to win their first RWC title. France have reached the RWC finals twice and ended up as runner-up on both occasions.
France will depart for New Zealand on Monday, August 29. They will kick-start their 2011 RWC campaign against the Japan on Saturday, September 10 at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland.
France’s final 30-man squad for their 2011 RWC campaign consists of,
FORWARDS (17): Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), William Servat (Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade French), Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Pascal Pape (Stade French),
Julien Pierre (Clermont), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, cap.) Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Raphael Lakafia (Biarritz), Louis Picamoles
(Toulouse).
BACKS (13): Morgan Parra (Clermont), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), David Skrela (Clermont), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Fabrice Estebanez (Brive), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), David Marty (Perpignan), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Maxime
Medard (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Bayonne), Damien Traille (Biarritz)
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