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Cult figure Sebastien Chabal will get a run at No. 8 in the French team to play Argentina in Saturday’s rugby Test at Montpellier.
`The Caveman’, who is as well known for his full beard and long hair as much as his ability on the field, has been in outstanding form for the Paris-based Racing-Metro this season and coach Marc Lievremont said he wanted to see how he performed in the back row from the start of a match.
Chabal has been a regular in Lievremont’s squads since he took over from Bernard Laporte as coach in 2008, but has been used as a lock up until now.
He is one of 14 changes made to side that started last Saturday’s game against Fiji, which the French won 34-12, as Lievremont experiments ahead of the third and final autumn Test match against Australia in Paris on November 27.
“Given that Imanol (Harinordoquy) started the game against Fiji, it was logical that Sebastien Chabal gets the nod against Argentina,” Lievremont said.
Only Biarritz utility back Damien Traille keeps his place at fly-half, although he has a new half-back partner in the shape of Morgan Parra.
Clermont’s Aurelien Rougerie gets a rare run at centre, while there is a first cap for 23-year-old Yoann Huget of Bayonne on the wing.
Apart from testing players for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand, the French will also have revenge on their minds having lost heavily 41-13 to the Pumas in a Buenos Aires Test match in June.
“They gave us a hammering then,” said Lievremont. “That result will obviously be a factor for several players, but we must not fall into the trap of being over-motivated, and losing our discipline.
“The Argentinians are a very intelligent side and in the past they have been able to unsettle us.”
© AAP 2012The French team announced on Tuesday to play Argentina in a Test match at Montpellier on Saturday:
Alexis Palisson (Brive); Yoann Huget (Bayonne), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Marc Andreu (Castres); Damien Traille (Biarritz), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Sebastien Chabal (Racing-Metro), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt.); Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Julien Pierre (Clermont); Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), William Servat (Toulouse), Thomas Domingo (Clermont)Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Fabrice Estebanez (Brive), Jerome Porical (Perpignan)
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November 17th 2010 @ 8:15am
kovana said | November 17th 2010 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Is this match a sellout yet?
November 17th 2010 @ 11:53pm
Mike said | November 17th 2010 @ 11:53pm | Report comment
Can’t wait to see this guy against the Australian backs. Remember what he did to Ali Williams? Who is actually.. you know… tough?
November 18th 2010 @ 10:56am
BennO said | November 18th 2010 @ 10:56am | Report comment
haha nice one!
November 17th 2010 @ 11:57pm
True Tah said | November 17th 2010 @ 11:57pm | Report comment
Chabal is a bit overrated, good for a couple of big hits and not much else. More of a cult figure than anything else. But I admit I did enjoy when he broke Williams’ jaw.
Having said that, Im sure Cooper will be having a few sleepless nights until the game against France.
November 18th 2010 @ 11:04am
Jason said | November 18th 2010 @ 11:04am | Report comment
But I admit I did enjoy when he broke Williams’ jaw.
What? Why would you enjoy seeing a player get injured?
November 18th 2010 @ 10:14pm
Poth Ale said | November 18th 2010 @ 10:14pm | Report comment
It’s a True Tah thing.
November 18th 2010 @ 12:46am
GavinH said | November 18th 2010 @ 12:46am | Report comment
voted france’s favourite sportsman two years running!
November 18th 2010 @ 11:23am
Jason said | November 18th 2010 @ 11:23am | Report comment
Hard to tell what Lievremont is up to here. For someone who said he wants to take advantage of the change in the interpretation and application of the laws of rugby, he appears to be having an each way bet with this selection. I’m aware he’s got some injury issues and needs to pick a team to combat Argentina, but he’s leaving it awful late to develop a side to hand a spanking to the Wallabies.
November 18th 2010 @ 9:56pm
Ben S said | November 18th 2010 @ 9:56pm | Report comment
‘For someone who said he wants to take advantage of the change in the interpretation and application of the laws of rugby’
I forget, when did he say this?
November 18th 2010 @ 10:19pm
Poth Ale said | November 18th 2010 @ 10:19pm | Report comment
Recently. After seeing the way the ABs played in the 3N – he wants to follow their lead.
October 2010 – Lievremont
“”I have never seen rugby change so much in a year. If you take the Tri-Nations as the barometer of international rugby, it was day and night between 2009 and 2010 in terms of rhythm, tries scored, balance between kicking and handling.
I like that new style compared to the padlocked game of 2007. The problem is that this new style of play suits the All Blacks perfectly. It’s their game, their tradition. I was impressed by the game they developed in the Tri-Nations with the new rules. I don’t think that for the time being we can match them physically and technically in terms of rhythm and individual enterprise.
New Zealand and Australia are a step ahead of us because our championship is too conservative to let us benefit from the new rules but I’m sure we can adapt. The November internationals will be a good opportunity. We’ll go crescendo with a first game against Fiji, then Argentina and the Australia test will be a very interesting and very important game.”
November 18th 2010 @ 10:45pm
Ben S said | November 18th 2010 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
I see. Thanks, Pot. Obviously he’d forgotten all of that by the time Fiji rolled into town.