It hasn’t been pretty but France, as expected, are heading towards that pool-deciding meeting with Ireland.
First though they must battle past Canada.
| POOL D – Match #22 – France v Canada | ||||
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| Overall Stats France | vs | Overall Stats Canada | ||
| Average Score : France 34.28 vs 12.63 Canada | ||||
| Games Played | 8 | Games Played | 8 | |
| *Games Won | 7 | *Games Won | 1 | |
| *Games Lost | 1 | *Games Lost | 7 | |
| Games Drawn | 0 | Games Drawn | 0 | |
| *Longest.Winning.Streak | 6 | *Longest.Winning.Streak | 1 | |
| *Longest Losing Streak | 1 | *Longest Losing Streak | 6 | |
| *Largest Points For | 50 | *Largest Points For | 20 | |
| *Largest Points Against | 20 | *Largest Points Against | 50 | |
| *Largest.Winning.Margin | 44 | *Largest.Winning.Margin | 2 | |
| *Largest Losing Margin | -2 | *Largest Losing Margin | -44 | |
| *Total Points For | 274 | *Total Points For | 101 | |
| *Avg Points For | 34.28 | *Avg Points For | 12.63 | |
| *Total Points Against | 101 | *Total Points Against | 274 | |
| *Avg Points Against | 12.63 | *Avg Points Against | 34.25 | |
| *Total Points Difference | 173 | *Total Points Difference | -173 | |
| *Avg Points Difference | 21.63 | *Avg Points Difference | -21.63 | |
| * = By France | * = By Canada | |||
| Past Meetings | |||||
| 18-Sep-11 | France | 46 | 19 | Canada | Napier, New Zealand |
| 12-Nov-05 | France | 50 | 6 | Canada | Nantes, France |
| 10-Jul-04 | Canada | 13 | 47 | France | Toronto, Canada |
| 23-Nov-02 | France | 35 | 3 | Canada | Paris, France |
| 2-Oct-99 | France | 33 | 20 | Canada | Beziers, France |
| 17-Dec-94 | France | 28 | 9 | Canada | Besancon, France |
| 4-Jun-94 | Canada | 18 | 16 | France | Nepean, Canada |
| 13-Oct-91 | France | 19 | 13 | Canada | Agen, France |
POSSIBLE RR World Rankings outcome on Result
FRA (on 81.10 points) at home -vs- CAN (on 63.66 points) in a RWC match
| Possible Outcome | Rating Point Exchange |
New FRA Rating |
New CAN Rating |
Will CAN overtake FRA? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| If FRA win by 1-15 points | 0.000 | 81.10 | 63.66 | No |
| If FRA win by more than 15 | 0.000 | 81.10 | 63.66 | No |
| If result is a draw | 2.000 | 79.10 | 65.66 | No |
| If CAN win by 1-15 points | 4.000 | 77.10 | 67.66 | No |
| If CAN win by more than 15 | 6.000 | 75.10 | 69.66 | No |
Milton Keynes will be the setting for both teams’ third game at this Rugby World Cup before les Bleus reach Cardiff for that key game against Joe Schmidt’s men.
Like Ireland, the French have been building with one eye on the Millennium Stadium showdown, rotating their squad in preparation to hit the ground at full pace on Sunday, October 11. Of course Sergio Parisse’s Italy might have something to say about both sides being unbeaten when they play that game.
Those tweaks in personnel on a weekly basis have led to Thierry Dusautoir, Frederic Michalak, Mathieu Bastareaud and several others coming back into Thursday’s line-up while Louis Picamoles and Noa Nakaitaci are given a well-earned break, as they were two players to start both their opening matches.
Michalak alongside Sebastien Tillous-Borde seems to be the first-choice half-back pairing while one would expect Picamoles, Nakaitaci and possibly Sofiane Guitoune to return for the key games alongside this week’s starters Wesley Fofana, Bastareaud and Scott Spedding.
As it has for the majority of Philippe Saint André’s tenure in the international hot-seat, the foundations laid by the forwards have been the first thought and in props Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani and hooker Guilhem Guirado they have real steel in that area. Strong back-up options of Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas and Benjamin Kayser make many a rival nation jealous so, like it or not, they are well stocked to launch a Rugby World Cup title bid built on those foundations.
Canada will hope to keep them moving and avoid a set-piece battle, as they have shown particularly at the line-out where they do not compete on opposition ball due to their size. It truly is going to be a match of contrasting styles as the Canadian backline looks to surprise the French and cause what would be a huge shock before taking on Romania in Leicester.
Losing centre Connor Braid to injury is a setback while Jeff Hassler misses out for the second successive pool game due to injury, with DTH van der Merwe playing out of his skin in his wing partner’s absence. Once again his performance will be crucial to Canada’s hopes as they look to back up the positives from their impressive performance against Italy at Elland Road, which was a Rugby World Cup match they possibly should have won given how they dominated the statistics.
While they won’t go down without trying, beating France is surely out of the question though as a quick turnaround makes it that much tougher for the underdog this Thursday. For a freshened France, it’s now time to go up a gear before the big one.
The teams:
- France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Rémy Grosso, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Alexandre Dumoulin.
- Canada: 15 Matt Evans, 14 Phil Mackenzie, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Nathan Hirayama, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Tyler Ardron (c), 7 Richard Thorpe, 6 Kyle Gilmour, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 3 Doug Wooldridge, 2 Aaron Carpenter, 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ray Barkwill, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Andrew Tiedemann, 19 Evan Olmstead, 20 Nanyak Dala, 21 Gordon McRorie, 22 Harry Jones, 23 Conor Trainor.
- Date: Thursday, October 1
- Venue: Stadium MK, Milton Keynes
- Kick-off: 20:00 local
- Referee: JP Doyle (England)
- Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Angus Gardner (Australia)
- TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
- Full Pool Previews – Click Individual Pool Below
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