World Cup warm-ups:Ireland have lined up the French Top 14 side Bayonne as an additional fixture in their World Cup warm-up plans during their five-day training camp in Capbreton later this month. While the fixture, pencilled in for Thursday, August 16th, has still to receive official ratification from the French Federation and, in turn, the International Rugby Board, it looks highly probable that the game will take place.
Having heard that the Irish World Cup squad will be based nearby, Bayonne apparently approached the IRFU seeking a fixture and a Union official has confirmed that the Irish management would be keen to have some match practice that week as part of their preparations for the tournament in France.
The 30-man Irish squad will have been named the preceding Sunday, August 12th, before flying to the south west of France the next day. "It's not a done deal yet and it has still to be sanctioned by the French Federation and then by the IRB," said the IRFU spokesperson. "We're still awaiting confirmation but we're hopeful that will happen over the next few days."
If the fixture does get the green light, then Bayonne will assuredly publicise it accordingly. A passionate hotbed of Basque rugby, who are somewhat aggrieved that their close neighbours Biarritz have stolen their status as the flagship of regional identity, they remain a better supported club despite a couple of years flirting with relegation.
Coached by Jean-Pierre Ellisalde, father of the Toulouse and French scrum-half Jean-Baptiste, the veteran centre Richard Dourthe remains their most notable player.
Given the time of the year and the prospect of one of France's World Cup group opponents, Brian O'Driscoll et al, lining out in the Jean Dauger Stadium, it would be no surprise if the game was ultimately a 15,000 sell-out for the mooted 9pm kick-off local time.
As a means of fine-tuning the Irish team's preparations - their only other warm-up match after the squad is announced is against Italy in Ravenhill eight days later - and acclimatising themselves for the World Cup, it could be a useful work-out.
Ireland's World Cup campaign starts against Namibia in Bordeaux on September 9th. As a PR exercise, the fixture might also offset the fact that the Irish squad's five-day training camp in Capbreton is behind closed doors, with no exposure to the media or public.
The hosts themselves are struggling to meet the huge media interest already building in their preparations for the World Cup, with the refusal to grant any one-on-one interviews causing some anger in L'Equipe and the twice-weekly rugby magazine Midi Olympique.
The French 30-man squad will have a maximum 11 days in total respite from the build-up since first coming together on July 2nd, and they have spent so much time in their main, purpose-built training centre in Marcoussis that it has earned the monicker Marcatraz.
Repeating established practice prior to previous World Cups and underlining their belief in altitude training, the squad spent six days in Val d'Isere (from July 9th to 14th), and the following four days in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees in Catalonia, where one open session drew 5,000 spectators.
Another novelty and indication of their exalted status in French sporting psyche lately, was a picture of newly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy sitting down to lunch in between Fabien Pelous and Raphael Ibanez and opposite French head coach Bernard Laporte (who will take up a post as the new French Minister of Sport under Sarkozy after the World Cup) at their Marcoussis base. Sarkozy is the first French president to meet the French squad while in training.
Back in Marcoussis this week, after a weekend's break they will return to camp next Monday until another two-day break at the end of the month, during which time France will play England in Twickenham and Marseilles (again repeating the preparations of four years ago) as well as Wales in Cardiff.
Sylvain Marconnet, their one abiding injury concern, is a step closer to being ready in time for the Rugby World Cup after the Stade Francais prop resumed jogging last week for the first time following his injury.
The 71-Test veteran has been out of action since fracturing his tibia in a skiing accident earlier this year during the Six Nations but he has been afforded plenty of time to prove his fitness.
Outhalf Stephen Jones will be fit to captain Wales at the World Cup, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said yesterday. Jones sustained a groin injury in training last week but medical scans showed he had suffered a partial tear only to a tendon in his left groin and would not require surgery.
