2023-06-25 20:12:00
Fabien Galthié failed to “capture” Emmanuel Meafou for the World Cup, according to the vocabulary chosen by the coach of the XV of France. The request made in the hope of accelerating the availability of the Toulouse giant, for the World Cup in France (September 8 – October 28), resulted in a negative response from World Rugby, according to several media on Saturday evening. Information since confirmed by AFP this Sunday.
Meafou (2.03m, 145 kg), born in New Zealand and likely to defend the colors of Australia, has long expressed his desire to wear the jersey of the France team. Problem, the eligibility criterion established by the international federation has evolved. The necessary period of residence on the territory of the country that the foreign player wants to represent has been increased from three to five consecutive years.
world Cup
Request rejected: Meafou will not be with the Blues
21 HOURS AGO
The 24-year-old colossus joined the Stade Toulousain training center in December 2018. He underwent this change in regulations which came into force… on January 1, 2022. Understand: he was virtually a candidate for the France team for a few days, in December 2021, then he left on the waiting list. It was this grotesque situation that gave hope for a favorable outcome.
Meafou as training partner last March
Credit: Getty Images
Quid of Fakatava jurisprudence ?
Especially since the lawyers responsible for this case could rely on case law: that of Folau Fakatava. The Tongan scrum-half had meanwhile been eligible for a selection with New Zealand at the end of 2020. He had already spent more than three years in the country of the long white cloud, but the count had started when he came of age (end of 2017) , by virtue of a regulatory subtlety.
In 2021, it then seems clear that Fakatava will make his debut with the All Blacks… but the Highlanders’ n°9 injured his knee and everything was postponed for a year. This is when the problem of his soaring eligibility arises, in 2022. Rob Nichol, general manager of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, seeing it as “an anomaly”, as reported by Stuff, the country’s media in question.
Emmanuel Meafou during the final of the Top 14 2022/2023
Credit: Imago
The vagaries of the calendar
By pleading the impossibility of revoking the selectable status of a player who has not left the territory concerned, the All Blacks won their case. Folau Fakatava (2 capes) was thus able to put on the tunic struck with the fern as early as 2022. They may also have had, for example, to attest to his presence on an expanded list the previous year, but nothing allows him to to assert. So why isn’t Emmanuel Meafou in the same boat?
The period, as a very short reminder (December 2021), during which he was a potential Blue, is undoubtedly the key. Should the XV of France show its desire to select it, supporting document? Was the fact that this period of time did not correspond to any international window simply prohibitive? Still, it is probably in this difference between the cases of Fakatava and Meafou that lies the reason for the refusal of the world body.
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