Méla in for injured Papé
Arnaud Méla has been recalled to the French squad to face Italy in their Six Nations clash in Paris on Sunday. The Albi lock replaces Stade Français's Pascal Papé who sustained a knee injury in the Parisan side's 9-6 loss to Biarritz at the weekend.
Arnaud Méla has been recalled to the French squad to face Italy in their Six Nations clash in Paris on Sunday. The Albi lock replaces Stade Français's Pascal Papé who sustained a knee injury in the Parisan side's 9-6 loss to Biarritz at the weekend.
Papé left Aguiléra stadium on Saturday on crutches, and on Sunday night it was announced that the 28 year-old Méla had received his third call-up after having played against Scotland and Ireland early in this year's tournament.
“I took a ball from a kick-off and I landed badly,” Papé told Canal+ from the bench during the game.
“My left knee cracked. I think I've hurt the meniscus. Just straightening my leg hurts. It's not great.”
Méla on the other hand is more than happy to travel to Paris, even if he had other plans for the weekend.
“I'm very happy to have another chance with les Bleus even if I'm going to leave my friends at Albi when we have a very important match against Montauban coming up. So my feelings are a bit mixed, ” Méla told rugbyrama.
Méla produced a good performance against Ireland in the starting line-up for the home side at the Stade de France. The French scrum was visibly weakened when he left the field.
“I want to do more, do better than in my first two games. On paper Italy may seem less hard, but since the start of the tournament they've caused everyone trouble, nobody crushed them so it won't be an easy match,” he added.
So far, Papé is the only withdrawal from the squad announced by Marc Lièvremont last week. However, Dimitri Szarzewski, Damien Traille and Vincent Clerc all ended the weekend with niggles.
The French starting XV will be announced on Wednesday.
France:
Forwards: Fabien Barcella (Auch), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Jean-Baptiste Poux(Stade Toulousain) , Guilerm Guirado (Perpignan), Dimitri Szarzewski(Stade Français) , Lionel Nallet(Castres), Arnaud Méla (Albi), Jérôme Thion(Biarritz) , Ibrahim Diarra (Montauban), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Fulgence Ouedraogo(Montpellier) , Imanol Harinorodoquy (Biarritz)
Backs: Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Julien Tomas (Montpellier), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Yann David (Bourgoin), Julien Malzieu (Clermont), Anthony Floch (Clermont), Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont), Vincent Clerc (Stade Toulousain).