France centre Florian Fritz has been suspended for three weeks after being cited for eye-gouging in last week's defeat by Ireland. Benoit Baby will replace Fritz for the Six Nations game against Scotland in Paris on Saturday, with Maxime Mermoz promoted to the bench. Tolouse winger Cedric Heymans has been called up in place of Julien Malzieu. Romain Millo-Chluski replaces Sebastien Chabal at lock and props Nicolas Mas and Fabien Barcella both come in. Mas replaces the injured Benoit Lecouls and Barcella takes over from Lionel Faure. Lecouls picked up a neck injury on Saturday, while Chabal (back) and flanker Imanol Harinordoquy (knee) also sustained knocks at Croke Park. Fritz appeared before an independent three-man disciplinary committee on Wednesday in London and was found guilty of making contact with the eye area of Irish flanker Stephen Ferris during France's 30-21 defeat. His suspension means he will miss the Scotland game and the visit of reigning Six Nations champions Wales on 27 February. France have a superb home record against Scotland, having not lost to them since 1999. "Our team is young and we must learn from this experience," said Dusautoir. "You have to give us time. "I know it is idiotic to say that because we have been saying that for a year and a half. "We are capable of producing a game that everyone is waiting for but at the moment it isn't the game that wins matches. "We want it to become a winning style. We have to continue on this path, while not forgetting about the other phases of rugby, which are the essentials. "It is a beautiful style, but we are not winning. We are still lacking something. "But when we play too much, people have a go at us for playing too much and when we don't play enough, people also have a go at us for that too. "We need to be left in peace so that we can work on what we need to do." Lionel Nallet is once again named captain, even though the Castres lock is struggling for form at the moment. "At no time have we envisaged changing our captain," Lievremont said. "He is our captain. In no way is it a handicap to start him. We are very happy with his performance (against Ireland)." |
Thursday, February 12, 2009
France lose Fritz to suspension
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