French flyhalf Ntamack suspended for Italy match, but can face Ireland
Feb 11 (Reuters) - France flyhalf Romain Ntamack will miss the next Six Nations match against Italy through suspension but will be allowed to return for the Ireland clash once he takes part in World Rugby's Coaching Intervention Programme.
Ntamack picked up a yellow card for a shoulder-to-head tackle on Ben Thomas late in France's 43-0 win over Wales last month, which was upgraded to a red card following a review.
The disciplinary committee determined that the mid-range entry point of six weeks/matches was appropriate but reduced this to three after Ntamack accepted he committed an act of foul play, along with his exemplary disciplinary record.
The Six Nations initially said Ntamack would miss the England game at Twickenham last Saturday, which France lost 26-25, and have now confirmed his suspension will cover the Italy match in Rome on February 23.
Ntamack can apply to take part in the Coaching Intervention Programme, which is aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play, and this would substitute the final match of his sanction.
This would leave Ntamack available for France's crunch clash with Six Nations leaders Ireland in Dublin on March 8. France are second in the standings on six points, four behind Ireland.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
French Open: Defending champion Alcaraz faces No. 1 Sinner for the men's title
faces defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final on Sunday in a match pitting the world's top two men's players. They share seven major titles, four for Alcaraz and three for Sinner, who is in the French Open final for the first time. The top-ranked Sinner has not dropped a set at Roland-Garros, while the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz has dropped four sets. Sinner is on a 20-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments, after winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. The 22-year-old Alcaraz owns a tour-leading 21-1 record on clay this year and has beaten the 23-year-old Sinner in their past four meetings. He leads him 7-4 overall. ___ AP tennis:
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Coco Gauff hits back at Aryna Sabalenka's sour claim that Iga Swiatek would have beaten her in the French Open final
Coco Gauff has hit back at Aryna Sabalenka 's contention that Iga Swiatek would have beaten her in the French Open final. The 21-year-old American sensation conquered Roland-Garros for the very first time after coming from behind to defeat the top-ranked Sabalenka 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. This marked the second Grand Slam of Gauff's career, having also claimed the 2023 US Open title. The world No 2 became the first American to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015. To tee up Saturday's showdown, Gauff beat Lois Boisson in the semi-final, while Sabalenka edged past world No 5 Swiatek. And in an ungracious press-conference after the final, Sabalenka argued that Swiatek would have beaten Gauff had she progressed past the semi-final. Sabalenka said: 'That hurts. Especially when I've been playing really great tennis during the whole week. A lot of tough opponents, Iga. 'I think if Iga would have beaten me, she would go out today and she would get the win.' Gauff parried the distasteful claim away and cited her victory in straight sets against Swiatek at the Madrid Open earlier this year, which was also on clay. Gauff rebutted: 'I mean, I don't agree with that. I'm here sitting here (with the trophy). Last time I played - no shade to Iga or anything, but I played her and I won in straight sets (in Madrid). 'I don't think that's a fair thing to say, because anything can happen. The way Aryna was playing the last few weeks, she was the favourite to win the title. If you asked me, honestly, who I wanted to play, it was Iga just because I felt Aryna was playing so good, and she was. 'But regardless of who I played, I think I had a good shot to win. I definitely had that belief.' Sabalenka made 70 unforced errors in blustery conditions, and said: 'It felt like a joke. Like somebody from above was laughing: let's see if you can handle this 'After two weeks of incredible tennis, in the final in terrible conditions to play such terrible tennis really hurts. 'It felt like she (Gauff) was hitting the ball off the frame and somehow magically it lands in the court. I don't think she won the match because she played incredible, just because I made all those mistakes.' The world No 1 went on to blame the conditions, namely the wind, and admitted her emotions got the better of her. 'They were terrible. The wind was terrible. Coco simply handled it better,' Sabalenka added. 'Also, I was overemotional. I think I didn't have a good mental grip on myself today. That was basically it,' said the world number 1. In detail: 'Whenever she hit the ball, the wind would eventually make it fly like crazy, and I was always too late. It just felt like a joke, like someone from above was just laughing and saying, 'Let's see if you can do this.' And today I couldn't.'
BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
Manassero and Fox hold slender lead at Canadian Open
Canadian Open third round leaderboard-14 R Fox (NZ), M Manassero (Ita); -13 L Hodges (US), M McCarty (US), K Yu (Tai); -12 J Knapp (US), M Hughes (Can), A PutnamSelected others: -11 C Champ (US), V Perez (Fra), D Skinns (Eng); -10 S Lowry (Ire), D Willett (Eng); -9 L Aberg (Swe); -7 H Hall (Eng), P Waring (Eng); -4 R MacIntyre Full leaderboard Italian Matteo Manassero and New Zealand's Ryan Fox were tied for the lead after the third round at a closely contested Canadian and Fox both carded rounds of 64, each including seven birdies and one bogey as they moved to 14 under."It was a really good round," said Manassero, whose bogey came at the 17th hole before he recovered the stroke with a birdie at the last."I missed the short one on 17, and I did miss a couple more short ones. I try to think of them just like a shot really, like a driver, like a six-iron, whatever. It's just a shot."It wasn't that hard for me to stay focused into what I was doing and not ruining [it] at the end."Manassero will be chasing his first PGA Tour title, while Fox is seeking a second just a month after his first triumph on the tour at the Myrtle Beach Classic."Obviously there's a lot of good players behind me," said Fox. "I feel like it's going to take a pretty low [score] to get the job done." Lee Hodges and Kevin Yu both shot seven under par rounds of 63 and sit one back along with Matt McCarty. A 65 from England's David Skinns moved him on to 11 under along with seven other players, including overnight leader Cameron could only manage a one over-par 71 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Danny Willett (67) and Ireland's Shane Lowry (68) are a shot further back on 10 under.
