Two French stars retire in aftermath of World Cup exit
France head coach Fabien Galthie has confirmed that prop Uini Atonio and lock Romain Taofifenua have retired from international rugby following their quarter-final loss to South Africa on Sunday.
The World Cup hosts crashed out of the tournament in Paris on Sunday night, narrowly losing 29-28 in what has now turned out to be the final appearance in blue for the heavyweight duo.
La Rochelle tighthead Atonio has been a mainstay in the France front-row during this World Cup cycle and started against the Springboks. The New Zealand-born prop will retire with 57 caps to his name. Lyon’s Taofifenua came off the bench to replace Thibaud Flament for the final half hour at the Stade de France in what was his 49th and final game for Les Bleus.
Galthie said after the match: “This arrow of time gave us a very clear vision. The French team will continue to play, move forward and develop. Only two players are retiring, Uini Atonio and Romain Taofifenua. As for the rest, what we’ve just experienced is part of writing the book for the French team.
“It’s difficult. We used ‘the arrow of time’ [analogy] to work and grow with the players according to a certain methodology. We’ve worked really well over the last four years with the staff, the players and the federation, and we’ve achieved something great.”
The pair, both 33, will leave a sizeable hole in the France pack with Atonio weighing 146kg and Taofifenua weighing 136kg. With that kind of weight, they have been instrumental to France’s power up front over the past four years.
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The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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