The XV of France won a large victory against Fiji in the Nations Championship (54-17), but paid a heavy price, with a new major injury, that of Romain Ntamack, hit in the left shoulder.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 23:22Modified on: 08/11/2026 - 09:09

A costly victory. Sold out against Fiji (54-17), Saturday November 7, the XV of France continues its race at the top of the Northern Hemisphere Nations Championship. But he will now have to do without his opener Romain Ntamack, injured in the left shoulder, and out until the end of the competition.

The French public had to wait 609 days to see the most used hinge in the history of the French selection, after long months marred by injuries, sometimes for Antoine Dupont, sometimes for the Toulouse opener.

The exit, in the 34th minute of the N.10 tricolor, his face contorted by pain and his left arm in a sling in his jersey - a "probable dislocation" according to Fabien Galthié - suggests that the next appearance of the duo, cursed in recent times, will not be for this month of November.

Of course, the French won. Without showing outrageous brilliance, but they won, took a logical offensive bonus and pranced at the top of the Northern Hemisphere rankings with 17 points after the fourth day of this Nations Championship as fresh as the evening in Lyon.

Hemorrhage of players

But the fall of 2026 is not really one of those where we watch one of the selection executives leave and tell ourselves that the pool will allow him to be replaced without worry.

The usual opener, Matthieu Jalibert, is already on the sidelines, injured in the quadriceps, and will not be back at the time of the finals weekend at the end of November, and the other potential opener, Thomas Ramos, is also unavailable, injured in a thigh.

Not to mention the other packages, with a second Flament-Meafou line in the infirmary or the absence of center Fabien Brau-Boirie.

However, we will have to find someone to liven up the French game next week against the terrible Springboks, double world champions and chief tormentors of the Blues.

While waiting to know which hinge will challenge South Africa, fortunately there was not only bad news in Lyon on Saturday.

Sometimes messy, the French did not hesitate to dominate the "Flying Fijians" who were less unpredictable than their reputation and the numerous talents present suggested.

Thanks to a serious conquest, notably with a dominating pack in the melee, the XV of France was able to erase the many dross from the start of the game from people's minds.

Shaken by the tackles of Fijians as hard as plane trees, the Blues were awakened by an impressive charge from Yoram Moefana who knocked down the Castres Vilimoni Botitu, although not the last when it comes to playing movers.

Continuing on, left pillar Jean-Baptiste Gros slipped to the goal in a clever mix of finesse and power (5-0, 15th).

Applied to a penalty, the Tricolores pushed the overwhelmed Fijians to make a mistake, forced to concede a penalty try (12-0, 22nd), accompanied by a yellow card for Nasilasila.

An available and efficient XV of France

Despite some delays, the evening seemed to be off to a good start, especially as a nice crossing from Romain Ntamack allowed Sipili Falatea to add a try (19-3, 33rd).

But the smile emerging on the faces of the Blues turned into a grimace, seeing that their opener had just been hit on the ground.

Forced to leave, Ntamack, who on Saturday equaled his father Emile's 46 caps, was replaced by Maxime Lucu, who took his place at the opening and also replaced him in the role of scorer.

Faced with worn-out Fijians, the teammates of an available and efficient but silent Louis Bielle-Biarrey then found more space.

Aaron Grandidier, opportunist (36th), and Kalvin Gourgues, at the conclusion of a nice first-hand action for his first start in blue (59th) widened the gap.

A start from Dupont and a strong relay from Bielle-Biarrey allowed Théo Attissogbe to score a 13th try for his 14th selection, then Charles Ollivon in force (73rd) and Antoine Dupont as a trickster allowed the XV of France to exceed the 50 point mark.

With AFP

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