Tokyo (AFP)
Historically conquering in closed scrums, Argentina has serious problems in this sector. The duel of the Rabah Slimani-Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro pillars will partly determine the turn of the World Cup match against Pumas Blues on Saturday in Tokyo.
. Slimani-Chaparro: a question of dress
Rabah Slimani took advantage of the unavailability of Demba Bamba to recover the right pillar key post. A priori, his small size (1.78 m) and strength of kidneys should allow him to dominate Tetaz Chaparro, a tall pillar (1.88 m), appeared in difficulty, as the Argentine scrum, during the Rugby Championship this summer. Only downside: the French pillar will be under the close supervision of the Australian referee Angus Gardner who, in two matches (New Zealand in 2017 and England in 2018) had severely sanctioned his problems of liaison.
. Lauret-Matera: who will be the first to scratch?
In balance for a spot in the group of 31, Wenceslas Lauret (1.88 m, 103 kg) finally won his ticket to Japan because of his particular profile: helmet on his head and courage shoulder, he arrives first on the meeting points, to slow down the opposing sequences or "scratch" the ball. His ability to stop the game of Pumas and distance the Argentine specialist from the exercise, Captain Pablo Matera (1.93 m, 109 kg), will be paramount. As his ability to "propose" attack, in the wake of the two perforators Charles Ollivon and Gregory Alldritt. The 3rd French line has pointed the qualities of Matera: "he can scrape a ball, flatten at the four corners of the field, take balloons in touch and in attack he plays the blows," noted Ollivon.
. Ntamack-Sanchez: the challenge of youth
One is 20 and barely a handful of selections (8). The other is 30 years old and walks his science on all the grounds of the world for more than ten years (77 selections) .... Difficult to do more contrasted than the duel between Romain Ntamack and Nicolas Sanchez. Nevertheless, the two players share the same taste for the attack, not hesitating to challenge the opposing line.
On the other hand, Sanchez, best director of the Mondial-2015, presents more references in the role of the scorer than Ntamack, who inherited the "load" on the French side. Without warranty...
. Vakatawa-Orlando: watch out for the line
Not retained among the initial list, then returned in the group because of the injury of Geoffrey Doumayrou, Virimi Vakatawa finally ripped a place of titular center thanks to its qualities exposed to ... the training and during a friendly confrontation with a Japanese club. Worse: Vakatawa has never started a single game in the center in their first 18 selections. In short ... its ability to integrate into the French line raises question. Perhaps not in attack where his qualities of perforator can do damage but in defense, where the system adopted this summer ("rush defense", pressure on the opponent) does not forgive the slightest mistake. Finalist of Super rugby with the Jaguars, Matias Orlando has accumulated enough experience (41 caps since 2012) to know how to take advantage of the smallest error and the smallest space ...
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