Fages: We will be in good shape
ELOI Pelissier’s expulsion from the France squad has not caused any disruption ahead of the game against England, according to captain Theo Fages.
The Leigh hooker was sent home from the World Cup at the weekend after breaking a team curfew and his place for Sunday’s final Group A game against England in Perth has gone to London Broncos’ former Hull KR number nine John Boudebza.
“We’ve moved on,” Fages said. “It was the decision of the coaches and the chairman, it’s not our responsibilities. We’ve put that behind us.”
France made the worst possible start to the World Cup with a defeat to Lebanon which left them needing to beat either Australia or England to give themselves a chance of going through to the knockout stages.
A 52-6 loss to the Kangaroos means they will need to beat England by more than 26 points at the Rectangular Stadium and Fages says they have not given up hope.
“It was disappointing to lose against Lebanon,” said the St Helens half-back as the France players put a group of local school children through a game of touch rugby at Elizabeth Quay in the centre of Perth.
“We had to be better against Australia and everyone tried hard and I thought we had a good game. To qualify and get to the quarterfinal we need to have a win and we have one game left.
“We don’t give up, anything can happen. We know England is probably one of the three best teams in the world so it’s going to be hard but we are going out to win.
“Hopefully we can play even better than we did against Australia.”
Saturday, November 11 – Samoa v Scotland (Barlow Park, Cairns), Saturday, November 11 – New Zealand v Tonga (Waikato Stadium, Hamilton)
Friday, November 17 – A1 v B3 (Darwin Stadium), Saturday, November 18 – B2 v D1 (Christchurch Stadium), Saturday, November 18 – B1 v A3 (Wellington Regional Stadium), Sunday, November 19 – A2 v C1 (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium) Friday, November 24 – QF1 Winner v QF2 Winner (Brisbane Stadium), Saturday, November 25 – QF3 Winner v QF4 Winner (Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland) Saturday, December 2 – SF1 Winner v SF2 Winner (Brisbane Stadium)