Kumamoto (Japan) (AFP)
Change of program: After the cancellation of his World Cup match against England, scheduled for Saturday in Tokohama, because of Typhoon Hagibis, the XV of France rallied on Thursday afternoon Oita (southern Japan), where he will have ten days to prepare for his quarter-final.
The decision of World Rugby fell at 12h00 local (05h00 French). An hour later, the Blues left the Nikko hotel in Kumamoto, where they established their neighborhoods since September 23, to make a clean sheet for the Welsh, who face Uruguay on Sunday.
Oita direction then, some 100 kilometers northeast on the island of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands that make up Japan.
The French players left Kumamoto aboard their two coaches in the colors of the World Cup and under the thanks and encouragement of the staff of the hotel, chefs including, who had deployed a banner "Thank you! Go the Blues!" by way of goodbye.
Would the players have preferred to play this "Crunch", even if the qualification is acquired and the only issue was to finish in the first place of the "chicken of death" (C)? Are they totally behind the decision of World Rugby, dictated by security imperatives in the face of strong winds and torrential rains expected in Tokyo and its region from Saturday?
- Locked communication -
Impossible to know it, the communication having been locked: neither the players nor the management, in spite of the insistent requests, did not wish to stop before the press.
Moreover, she "calls all her supporters to follow the instructions of the local authorities or the embassy of France and associates themselves fully with their disappointment".
"The World Rugby institution has guaranteed to the Federation that all tickets issued will be refunded and that it will communicate with the people concerned as soon as possible," he added.
One minute, then close the ban: Serge Simon refused to answer questions from the press, turning on his heels to join the rest of the delegation and Oita. Where the Blues prepare Friday their quarter-final scheduled October 20 against Wales, except cataclysm.
The Leek XV needs only to take two points against the modest Uruguay to finish at the top of Pool D, four days after having delivered an intense and epic fight against Fiji (29-17). Either three games in eleven days, when the XV de France has not played for two weeks and his victory against Tonga on October 6 (23-21).
- Freshness and rhythm -
The coolness will be in the hands of the Blues, who will however face the quarter-final private match against a team of "Tier 1" (the elite of world rugby, according to World Rugby classification) for a month and the victory (23-21) against Argentina in opening.
The XV of France had made the match against the English, among the favorites of the competition, a test of consistency for the quarter-finals after two unfinished outings against the United States (33-9) and Tonga.
It could also lack rhythm and should take advantage of the cancellation of the "Crunch" to resume "gas". Without giving too much strength either: they were thus "soft" against the Americans after ten days without playing, during which he had made four intense days of training. They should resume on Friday, in Oita.
© 2019 AFP