unselectable for the World Cup, Emmanuel Meafou is naturalized French and applies for the Blues

In the sights of the French resides. At 25, the Stade Toulouain nugget, born in New Zealand and of Australian origin, is therefore selectable for the Blues.

Excellent with Toulouse over the last three seasons, Emmanuel Meafou could have participated in the World Cup. But a request for an exemption issued by the French Rugby Federation was refused by World Rugby, while the player, who arrived in France at the end of 2018, was missing a few months to meet the naturalization criteria (five years on French soil).

From now on, the probability of seeing him don the blue jersey from the Tournament is very high. “It must have been two years now since the first contacts [avec le staff des Bleus] have been done”, he told Rugbyrama. Fabien Galthié had also expressed his wish to “capture” last spring and summoned him for a gathering during the last Tournament.

A timely naturalization

The rare profile (2.03 m and 145 kg) of Emmanuel Meafou could quickly do the Blues good. The Toulouse player, a true “pusher”, is particularly comfortable in the scrum and difficult to stop near the line (22 tries in 81 matches with the Rouge et Noir, impressive statistics for a second row). This pure number 5 would fill the place left vacant by the newly retired Romain Taofifenua, replacement during the last World Cup. The starter during the competition, Thibaud Flament, is not a specialist in this role and sometimes lacked power. He seems more fulfilled in the other second line position, at number 4.

Long indestructible but disturbed by injuries, which deprived him of the last World Cup, Paul Willemse (30 years old) remains a question. Bastien Chalureau, third in the hierarchy and convicted at first instance in 2020 for racist violence, will be tried on appeal next week. Before the World Cup, Emmanuel Macron had judged “preferable” that the Montpellier resident would no longer be selected if his sentence was confirmed on appeal.