France: Matthis Lebel wishing for rain in roasting Japan

France wing Matthis Lebel has been handed a golden chance to prove himself once again when they take on Japan this Saturday.

Lebel had an excellent season for Toulouse, but has struggled to bring his form with him into the national team and is still behind Gabin Villiere and Damian Penaud in the pecking order.

Slippery when wet

With the former injured, Lebel is likely to start Saturday’s first Test in Tokyo but the weather, particularly the humidity, is not being kind to him.

“We suffer, we sweat a lot and for a long time. But that’s also the purpose of these trainings: to prepare ourselves as well as possible for the weather conditions on Saturday afternoon,” he told Midi-Olympique.

Many a ball has slipped through sweaty France players’ hands in training this week, with the weather set to intensify, rather than improve, in Tokyo on Saturday.

“We’d prefer to play in rainy weather, it’s almost easier,” he continued.

“Here, to limit the effects of sweating, we’ve used glue spray and we even put resin on our hands.

“But the most important thing is to stay focused for eighty minutes and stay on the basic skills.”

Lebel will need to do so to take his opportunity, but as he insists, it is not all about his personal ambition one year out from the French World Cup.

“One year before the World Cup, all the opportunities are there for the taking, whether for a young player like Matthias Haddad or an experienced guy like Damian Penaud,” added Lebel.

“But you would go the wrong way by trying to get out of the system and show yourself personally. This collective must above all be respected.”

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