Its hits and colossal charges probably still resonate in New Zealanders' heads, as the noise of the impacts must have been impressive, in the heart of the action. As in this same sequence in the first period, where in the space of four seconds, he catapulted Will Jordan before quickly raising his immense frame and embedding Jordie Barrett in the pitch at the Stade de France.
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On one of the first French possessions, it was also he who anesthetized the shoulder of Wallace Sititi, certainly considerably reducing the impact on the meeting of the Chiefs bull. In short, for 50 minutes, Many Meafou played Many Meafou, against the All Blacks.
He is an exceptional second-rower, skilled with his hands, a big defender, who reads the game well – Fabien Galthié
The international level stage
But Meafou, 4 selections under the clock, now wants more. Far from a Top 14 almost too small for him, it is on the international scene that he wants to become a reference. “For the moment, I manage to do a good forty or fifty minutes. But if I want to be a very high level player, and even one of the best second rows in the world, I must be able to play eighty minute matches“, he aptly explained for L'Equipe. And achieve what Will Skelton, the only prototype with measurements comparable to his, has never been able to do in selection.
Pampered by his various staff, the 26-year-old 2nd line knows what he has to go through to achieve this. At 145kg throughout the year from now on, he will have to get closer to 140 pounds during the Blue meetings if he wishes to go the distance longer. “The difficulty is to lose weight without losing power. You have to find the right balance.” (The Team.)
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Today, the Toulouse player is already a “premium” player in this French team which he only joined last March. And this is thanks to an already enormous development at Stade Toulousain, with whom he has now been a full starter for three years. A period during which he scored 24 tries…
“But if he has made his mark in the Top 14, he is still only a developing player in this international rugby that he is barely discovering. He is a player who adapts over time, who has potential that only needs to be improved“, assured Fabien Galthié.
Once he has taken it up a notch in terms of cardio and further develops his knowledge of the game and his ability to make the right choices, to attack the right spaces, there is no doubt that Meafou will no longer have any equivalents in the world. In a position where maturity is considered late, his age of reason will perhaps arrive by the 2027 World Cup…
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