Will the Blues once again be deprived of one of their senior players? This is the question and the current concern of the staff of the XV of France after the injury to Julien Marchand. Friday, September 8, the victory of Fabien Galthié’s men against New Zealand (27-13) at the opening of the Rugby World Cup was clouded by the early exit of the hooker. From the twelfth minute, the Toulousain indeed left the lawn of the Stade de France head down, after being hit in the left thigh in a ruck.
The Blues coach estimated after the match that Marchand was suffering from a “tear” in a hamstring “given the symptoms”. This injury could cause him to miss the rest of the group stage, namely the matches against Uruguay (Thursday), Namibia and Italy. According to L’Equipe and Midi Olympique, the Toulouse player, who underwent initial examinations on Friday after the match, could be absent four to five weeks.
On Saturday morning, the attack coach, Laurent Labit, announced that the usual titular hooker of the Blues would take new exams at the start of the week, which will make it possible to refine his period of unavailability. “We hope it’s not very serious. Once we have the diagnosis and the verdict of his injury, we will make a decision. The Blues staff will then have two solutions: wait for the Toulousain to recover, betting in particular on the other two hookers in the group – Peato Mauvaka and Pierre Bourgarit – or replace Julien Marchand with another player. In this case, Fabien Galthié could probably rely on the Castrais Gaëtan Barlot, present in the list of twelve reservists.
Another injured in the XV of France
“We still have two heels in the group. We also have pillars who can play hooker. There’s no problem. There is no reason to panic: we are not going to rush, we have a match [against Uruguay] which will happen on Thursday where, in any case, Julien was not planned in the rotation ”, continued Laurent Labit.
Even if Peato Mauvaka took over on Friday for nearly seventy minutes against the All Blacks – and is used to facing the best teams with his club Stade Toulouse, where he rubs shoulders with Julien Marchand – this injury is one more bad news for the Blues. The French XV has already had to do without La Rochelle center Jonathan Danty and Toulouse left pillar Cyril Baille for the opening match, both forced to withdraw due to physical problems. If these two players should make their return during the competition, this will not be the case for fly-half Romain Ntamack, deprived of the World Cup due to a serious knee injury in a preparation match.
