Injury blow for France as Villiere ruled out of Six Nations
France wing Gabin Villière has been ruled out of the rest of the Guinness Six Nations through injury, Toulon have confirmed.
It’s an unfortunate set-back for the young winger who has made four appearances for France to date after making his official debut in 2020.
Toulon said in a statement: “After sustaining a hand injured during the 18th day of TOP 14 Toulon – Racing 92, Gabin Villière will undergo surgery in the coming hours.
“Thus the French international will be unavailable for the next 6 weeks.
“The entire Rugby Club Toulonnais team wishes Gabin a speedy recovery and a quick return to the pitch.”
It has been a remarkable rise for Villiere who was playing Federale 1 just two years ago. Writing about him on Twitter, former Rouen teammate Ben Mercer described him as a previously ‘very, very bad’ rugby player whose stubbornness saw him rise to the top.
“We had a teammate at Rouen who was very bad at rugby,” wrote the now-retired Mercer. “He played scrum-half and wore a scrum cap. Never a good sign. He had enormous hands that got in the way when he tried to pass and enormous feet that shanked box kicks everywhere but straight down the field.
“He belonged in the B team and even then he belonged on the bench. He was already 18 and was unlikely to improve very much. One day he came off the bench and came alive running with the ball. He still couldn’t pass but he could run a bit. He moved to centre where he could run some more.
"It was knocking up in the main sports category with Tyson Fury and Mike Tyson, so that is awesome"
– You may not have heard of Ben Mercer but his rugby autobiography was selling like hot cakes on Amazon when he spoke earlier in 2020 with @heagneyl ???https://t.co/yCNxJrL8qp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 26, 2020
“In the meantime, he was in the gym every day. He was still skinny and awkward but he was getting stronger and quicker every month. He was still bad but he kept working on his game. After a year he was playing for the B team in the centre.
“The year after he scored every time he played for the B team and sometimes played for the first team. The year after that he moved to the wing and began to score tries for the first team. He didn’t stop scoring them. The year after he played for the national 7s team. The year after he signed for one of the biggest teams [Toulon] in the country. The year after that he got picked for the national team.”
Meanwhile France have named a 31-man training squad for England week, which includes the return of Virimi Vakatawa.
? Voici le groupe des 31 joueurs sélectionnés pour préparer la suite du Tournoi des @SixNations_FR !
??????? Prochain match en Angleterre samedi prochain, le 13 mars à 17h45 ! #NeFaisonsXV #XVdeFrance
— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) March 7, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Why would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
151 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
36 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
151 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
6 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
35 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
36 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
36 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
4 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
4 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
13 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
35 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
35 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
6 Go to commentsThe real deal.
6 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
22 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
13 Go to comments“While a red card will mean a temporary team disadvantage, the replacement system will focus punishment on the offending player instead of disrupting the game itself.” This might work for amateur rugby, where players just want to be on the pitch for as long as possible, but hopefully we’ve got to a point where top level professionals care about the success of their team much more than about whether they personally are on the pitch or not.
13 Go to comments