Tokyo (AFP)
"Konnichiwa (hello in Japanese) Tokyo!" After ten days at the foot of Mount Fuji, the XV of France took up residence on Wednesday afternoon in the Japanese capital, where he will face Argentina on Saturday (9:15 French) to launch his World Cup campaign.
The deadline gets even closer with this arrival in the bustling megalopolis, whose setting contrasts with the peaceful Fujiyoshida, where the Blues had landed on September 8th.
Since then, they were probably starting to find the time a little long, between training and amusement park, the only real distraction at their disposal, not far from their hotel.
"We are happy to see something else. (Fujiyoshida) is a very nice executive but we can not wait to be in Tokyo, to get closer to the game and see the city," confirmed Gaël Fickou Wednesday morning before departure to Tokyo , some 130 kilometers further east.
Maxime Médard said: "It will be good to leave this hotel, go to Tokyo and get closer to the competition, we are all looking forward to entering the competition. Ten days we're here, we're impatient. "
The Blues will have three days, explains Rabah Slimani, "acclimatize to the environment of Tokyo", where they arrived around 15:30 local (07:30 French).
Housed at the Keio Plaza Hotel, in the district of Shinjuku, they will instead make their mark at the Ajinomoto stadium, where they meet the Pumas, Thursday afternoon, for the traditional training of the captain.
An on-site session usually scheduled the day before the meeting, but advanced one day since the enclosure is requisitioned on Friday, by the preparations for the opening match between Japan and Russia, in the evening.
The XV of France will therefore perform a final set up Friday afternoon at Fuchu Asahi Football Park, a few hundred meters from the Ajinomoto stadium where he will play, already, largely his future in the competition.
© 2019 AFP