He's the rising star of French refereeing. Hope he gets well soon and continues to receive the support he needs to get back in the middle. French rugby need him almost as much as they need a reliable fly half at the moment.
This kind of behaviour never harmed Bakkies' chances of selection when available. As long as these players can reel it in and remember not to snap the guy's head off, I think we can leave them to it. When headlocks become a genuinely useful trick in the game we can discuss the skills of players like these... what I've seen of EE so far is not very impressive in rugby terms, he seems to get tired very quickly and comes out of line in defence regularly. Not sure he's completely au fait with the laws of the game outside the pack.
Watched this begrudgingly as nowhere in France seemed to be showing the England Fiji game. Turned out to be an amazing game. Giteau was excellent but quite quiet. Wilkinson was outstanding. »
Isabelle Ithurburu is the new face of Canal+ rugby and she's intelligent, interested in rugby and is a distinguished journalist. I encourage the involvement of women at every level of the game from the paddock to the microphone but this production is just basic, basic advertising by O². »
