‘Stupid’ Pelous gets the elbow
FRANCE captain Fabien Pelous confessed to his ‘ stupidity’ yesterday before being banned until the New Year for smashing an elbow into the face of Australia hooker Brendan Cannon. An International Board tribunal conducted in London by RFU disciplinary officer Jeff Blackett suspended the Toulouse lock for nine weeks after he pleaded guilty to the incident during last weekend’s home win in Marseille.
Pelous, who will miss France’s next three internationals, against Canada, Tonga and South Africa, said: ‘ I was running upfield to put pressure on the Australian kicker when Cannon changed direction and cut my path. I flung out an elbow to go through. It was stupid but I did it without premeditation — stupidly but purely instinctively. I’ll take it like an adult. I made a mistake and I accept the verdict.’
Pe l o u s , a g i g a n t i c figure in the world game, as befitting a player with more than a century of Tests to his name, will also miss both Toulouse’s European Cup ties against Edinburgh next month. He will be free to play again in the holders’ home tie against Wasps on January 14.
Cannon is due back for the Wallabies at Twickenham on Saturday despite head coach Eddie Jones making further changes in yet another attempt to end a run of six defeats. Wendell Sailor is in danger of being dropped for the first time since his cross- code move three years ago.
Before naming his team today, Jones gave George Gregan another vote of confidence despite renewed calls for the captain’s removal.
‘ George has had to put up with that regularly throughout his career,’ said Jones. ‘His performance is under review like any other player but his captaincy is of enormous value at this stage of our development.
‘ There’s always pressure in this job and it certainly intensifies when you lose. I take full responsibility for our results. We will make sure we get out of it but there is no magical solution, just hard work.
‘I go to the gym every day and try to work out how we are going to win a game. In Australia we do have an enormously high expectation of our national teams and everyone was a bit down after losing the Ashes to the Pommies.
‘We do not tolerate anything less than the best, which is one reason why we have always done so well. Our cricketers have bounced back and we intend to bounce back on Saturday.’
As if a losing Wallaby team was not unusual enough, Jones sprang another surprise yesterday by paying generous tribute to Sir Clive Woodward after years of verbal jousting.
‘I was going to head down to Southampton just to see him and find out if he’s a bad soccer coach,’ he said, grinning. ‘Seriously though, I’d have to say Clive was terrific for rugby.
‘ We always had a bit of fun and he certainly played his part in creating a lot of interest. He took England from the edge of the top eight to the best in the world. Some of the rugby they played in June 2003 was the best rugby we have ever seen.
‘Then they played a conservative style at the World Cup, which suited them.’
The Wallabies plan to play Hugh McMenamin, their 11th new cap of the season, in the second row against England.
p.jackson@dailymail.co.uk