Fabien Galthié must have been in a cold sweat all weekend watching the matches of French clubs in the European Cup. After the announced withdrawal of Romain Taofifenua a little earlier, the French Rugby Federation also announced that Louis Bielle-Biarrey will not be at the rally tomorrow in Marcoussis. The Bordeaux winger withdrew on Sunday just before the Sharks received the Champions Cup, victim “dizziness” according to his manager Yannick Bru.
“Louis has a series of dizziness linked to inner ear disorders. I'm not a doctor but I've been faced with this before. He had loss of balance and no strength before the match“, declared Bru after the victory against the Sharks (66-12). “I told him 'you rest' because we know that he will be in high demand during the international period. He's also a player who played a lot so it gave him 80 minutes of rest“.
Bru confirmed that the French winger “had some beginnings but never at this important stage” and could not confirm whether he had boarded the train for Marcoussis with the other Girondin internationals. If our colleagues from L'Equipe announced that the arrival of the international winger could simply be postponed by a few days, to cope with all eventualities and while waiting for LBB to undergo medical examinations, the staff of the XV of France decided to call Killian Tixeront, player from Clermont, as reinforcement.
Taofifenua hit in the knee
For his part, the second row of Racing 92, Romain Taofifenua, is also out of the gathering of the French XV for the first match of the Six Nations Tournament, and is replaced by the Lyonnais Mickaël Guillard, the FFR announced on Sunday. Taofifenua (34 years old, 53 caps), came out in the 45th minute during Racing's victory against the Stormers (31-22) on Saturday, and appeared with an ice pack on one knee, even though his coach Stuart Lancaster s was intended to be reassuring after the match.
-Guillard (24 years old, 5 caps) had been a substitute in the Blues' last three matches this fall, for three victories against Japan, New Zealand and Argentina. Injured in an ankle at the end of November with Lou, Guillard has not played again since this injury.
The XV of France faces Wales to open the Tournament on January 31 at the Stade de France.
