Louis Picamoles Dropped

Yep, he's out, he will not feature against Scotland.

http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,16024_9183131,00.html

"After this defeat, we made some changes to compensate for injuries and perceived shortcomings in the Cardiff match. But also in reaction to certain attitudes on the ground vis-à-vis the match officials that have have no place in our sport.

"Respect is the foundation of our values. It is important to send a signal to all players and remind them having the privilege of wearing the jersey adorned with the cockerel* imposes duties and obligations.

"This group is doing well, but it must also be aware of the level expected and the necessary commitment to everything we do on the field in order to progress together. "

Picamoles was apparently seen to sarcastically clap Alain Rolland as he walked off the pitch after being given a yellow card.

France squad:

Forwards (17): Vincent Debaty (Clermont) Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Yannick Forestier (Castres), Brice Mach (Castres), Dimitri Szarzewski (Racing-Métro 92), Nicolas Mas (Montpellier), Rabah Slimani (Stade Français), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Français), Yoann Maestri (Stade Toulousain), Pascal Papé (Stade Français), Sébastien Vaahamahina (Perpignan), Virgile Bruni (Toulon), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont), Wenceslas Lauret(Racing-Métro 92), Bernard le Roux (Racing-Métro 92), Damien Chouly (Clermont), Antonie Claassen (Castres)

Backs (13): Jean-Marc Doussain (Stade Toulousain), Maxime Machenaud (Racing-Métro 92), Morgan Parra(Clermont), Jules Plisson (Stade Français), Rémi Talès (Stade Français), Mathieu Bastareaud (Toulon), Gaël Fickou (Stade Toulousain), Remi Lamerat (Castres), Maxime Mermoz (Toulon), Yoann Huget (Stade Toulousain), Maxime Médard (Toulouse), Hugo Bonneval (Stade Français), Brice Dulin (Castres).

He's included Parra despite the 9 being sent off for Clermont and possibly now facing a ban. Wesley Fofana is injured. If you're Irish or Scottish you're in dreamland. No Fofana OR Picamoles? And possibly no Parra? It's all coming together.

*What St. Andre actually said was adorned with the c o c k, but the swear filter didn't like that. If France truly wore jerseys adorned with the man sausage this would be a very different sport!

"...wearing the jersey adorned with the man sausage imposes duties and obligations."

[snigger]

Bloody chees eating frogs couldn't have done this before the first game.

amazed.   Brilliant player.

IMHO Hes the best no 8 in the 6n . Always makes a lot of yards.

And you know what else? No Nyanga! This just gets better and better. Possibly Frances three best players not in the squad, and the man they are screaming out for to come in at scrum-half facing a ban.

Surely he will be back for the Ireland game?

It was quite surprising how he reacted to Rolland. really unprofessional and fair enough to drop him. France have an incredible diciplinary record but to get a red and then this incident in consecutive games isnt good. However, was the yellow card warrented? It sounded like on the commentary they said he was binned for something someone else did. In other words the wrong guy went to the bin.

It wrecks my fantasy rugby team, no Fofana, Picamoles and Nyanga but I do agree with the stance they're taking. Was a poor reaction.

Why has Nyanga been left out? Feel sorry for him. Fantastic player who after getting injured in '09 it took him 5 years to get back into the French team. Tough to be dropped again.

I think Scotland could win this one.

PSA should drop himself for giving the players a gameplan that shows no passion or pride whilst wearing the jersey adorned with the cockerel.

They were clueless in defence, if only we hadn't given them so many points early on I think England would have won by a similar margin as Wales did.

Risca Rev wrote:It wrecks my fantasy rugby team, no Fofana, Picamoles and Nyanga but I do agree with the stance they're taking. Was a poor reaction.

ditto i have the same 3   

Bizarre, absolutely bizarre.

PSA is desperate to get France to play like an AP side. Thank fook Guy Noves has never been given the France job. No other country would have a chance of beating them in the 6N.

Maybe it'll be like when Australia banned those guys for going out boozing on tour. They did it before the Ireland match but they only missed the Scotland one. Maybe he'll be out of the rest of the tournament. It's not yet clear, but it'll be hard to bring him back into the fold after so publicly dropping him surely?

Either way it's good news for the other three nations in the hunt for the title as well as the Scots.

Whilst we're still huge underdogs, I'm personally delighted to see Picamoles and Nyanga dropped.

That should compensate for the inevitable selection mistakes Scott Johnson will make!

Notch wrote:Maybe it'll be like when Australia banned those guys for going out boozing on tour. They did it before the Ireland match but they only missed the Scotland one. Maybe he'll be out of the rest of the tournament. It's not yet clear, but it'll be hard to bring him back into the fold after so publicly dropping him surely?

Either way it's good news for the other three nations in the hunt for the title as well as the Scots.

Nah I'd say dropping him for one game, a game they may have rotated anyway will send enough of a message out.

Just heard on another board, that Picamoles has been dropped for clapping the ref when he got binned. Apparently its really really upset some of the higher ups in French rugby.

I understand why Picamoles has been dropped but find it strange that both Rabah Slimani and Morgan Parra have both been called up despite both recently getting red carded for headbutts.

Nyanga isn't dropped. He and Fofana are injured.

Also Parra (due to be recalled against scotland allegedly) is not available due to (allegedly) headbutting someone at the weekend!

Nyanga and Fofana are both injured. Parra hearing is on the 12th of march so should be available for Scotland. Picamoles needs some rest anyway so better that way I suppose.
Slimani was suspended one game so he's free now.

Is Parra likely to be banned for the Ireland game and is Picamoles likely to be called up?

Nice one - his reaction was more suited to wendy-ball and we can do without that nonsense.

GunsGerms wrote:Is Parra likely to be banned for the Ireland game and is Picamoles likely to be called up?

Yes and yes

Merci.

It's the French way of saying "We're resting him for a more important game"

Never tell the truth when you can load it with drama.....

Fofana almost certainly out for the rest of the tournament as well now.

Certainly against his slow clapping, stupid reaction. But then again it was about as stupid as the decision. He was pinged for having his hand on the ball, the camera then showed a replay from a different angle and his hand wasn't even on the ball.

Conning the ref should be punished just as much.

Wales rendered him and Pape ineffective, and without their two leaders the team was useless. Somebody said it was all the ref's fault though.

Andre has his the panic button again what is he thinking.

Madder than a box of hair, but obviously we'll take whatever advantage we can get.

Just means that we'll have Fickou to contend with, but I am fairly confident our midfield can nail him for most of the game.