France U20 in trouble
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:50
France's Under-20 side at the Junior World Championship in Wales is in trouble. Two players are out and two are in danger of being thrown out.
Morgan Parra and Wenceslas Lauret were injured in France's victory over Italy and are out for the rest of the tournament.
Parra is the captain of the team and one of France's mist promising players. This year he made his debut for the French senior team - first from the bench against Scotland and Ireland and then as the starting scrumhalf against England. He will not turn 20 till November. The son of a rugby-loving Portuguese father, he started playing at an early age and, like Frédéric Michalak and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, can play flyhalf or scrumhalf. But he has fractured his right hand and will play no further part in the Junior World \Championship. Julien Tomas of Montpellier has taken his place.
At 18 years of age, Wenceslas Lauret received a senior contract with Biarritz, a most promising loose forward. He has neck injury and is replaced by Yann Brethous of Mont-de-Marsan.
Then two players were cited after the Italy match, both for dangerous tackles - bulky centre Mathieu Bastareaud, who has played for the Stade Français senior side this season, and wing Djibril Camara, also of Stade Français.
Just before the end of the match against Italy, in injury time in fact, Bastareaud was sent off the field for his tackle on Italy's Andrea Pratichetti.
