Nice (AFP)
Edinburgh, a funny memory: a year and a half after the night out that had led to the exclusion of eight players, the XV of France took off Thursday for the Scottish capital, where he will continue on Saturday against Scotland his preparation for the Cup of the world.
The Blues will think when arriving on the tarmac of the airport, the same where, on February 12, 2018, the day after a defeat at Murrayfield (32-26), their plane about to take off was stuck for two hours by Scottish police.
In particular Anthony Belleau, Félix Lambey and Louis Picamoles, Yacouba Camara, heard after filing a complaint for sexual assault quickly withdrawn, and Arthur Iturria, who had to prove, video footage of the hotel in support, to be spoiled on the head of his bed and not during a fight.
In full tournament six nations, all except Camara, had been excluded from the Blues before being gradually reinstated. The other four culprits (Rémi Lamerat, Teddy Thomas, Sekou Macalou, Jonathan Danty) were not summoned for the World Cup.
"It could have happened anywhere, it happened there," said a sigh Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, assistant coach of the Blues, Thursday morning in Nice, where a ten-day stay ended for blues.
"We returned to Auckland (Wellington in fact, Ed) also where there had been a story with Mathieu (Bastareaud, and his false aggression in 2009.) We must be vigilant to everything, of course," relativised the coach backs.
Before taking the plane, the Blues have done their last training at the Arboras stadium of Nice, near the Allianz-Riviera where they dominated Scotland Saturday (32-3), without the coach Jacques Brunel, absent in because of a fever spurt that led him to take exams at the hospital.
They were reassuring, according to coaching, and Brunel flew away with his 37 players - including Paul Gabrillagues and Bernard Le Roux, suspended, and Virimi Vakatawa, who arrived on Wednesday in replacement - in the late afternoon to Edinburgh.
Where they expect a different opposition from the XV thistle. "It's a different context: it's at home, they put the rest of the frames back to rest, they're going to want revenge and reassurance, we're all expecting a big game," said Thomas Ramos.
© 2019 AFP