Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s coverage of tonight’s Rugby Planet Cup Pool A clash amongst hosts France and underdogs Uruguay at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille. France come into the fixture at the prime of the pool, getting beaten New Zealand in a historic opening evening clash in front of a sold-out Stade de France.
Fabien Galthié’s side will appear to place on a show for the house crowd tonight when also maintaining an eye on Italy, the only remaining group that could pose a threat to their initial pool stage clean sweep in 20 years. In light of this, Galthié has produced 12 alterations to the beginning XV that defeated the All Blacks, with only 3 players retained. Anthony Jelonch captains the side in his initial match in practically seven months, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey becomes France’s youngest Planet Cup player at 20 years and 87 days.
On the other hand, Uruguay enters the tournament from an unexpected beginning point and is at present top New Zealand in Pool A on points distinction. Even so, it remains to be noticed how extended they can retain this position. Tonight, 11 survivors from the 2019 campaign line up in the beginning XV as Uruguay goes in search of their fourth Planet Cup victory.
Their most important purpose in the pool stage is to beat Italy and Namibia to safe direct qualification for the subsequent Planet Cup. Even so, winger Ignacio Facciolo expressed that they will not overlook the matches against France and New Zealand. He stated, “We do not rule out the France and New Zealand games. We are going to play them as equals and we are going to go out and win. Uruguay will by no means give up a game as a lost result in.”
France hooker Pierre Bourgarit also emphasizes that Les Bleues will be taking the fixture seriously. He stated, “I want to give it my all. We know complete effectively that Uruguay is a powerful group who will rely on the fundamentals of the game. They also have some quite great players at the back. That is why we’re not taking this match lightly. We want to play a complete, critical match.”

