France against New Zealand before a sold-out Stade de France under lights on Saturday could be the last competitive rugby test between them for a while.
The French are set for a three-test tour of New Zealand next July but have already decided they're sending a second-string squad. It's not a surprise. France deliberately dispatched weakened squads to Argentina this year, Japan in 2022, and Australia in 2021. It won only the Japan series.
French federation officials agreed with the clubs last month that players in the Top 14 club final on June 28 will not go to All Blacks country, where the test series starts a week later.
The last Top 14 final featured Toulouse and Bordeaux, who have 19 players in the France squad, 10 of whom are in the matchday 23 on Saturday, including captain Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos and Peato Mauvaka.
Dupont and France are expected to give New Zealand a sterner test than Ireland did last week merely for the fact that, unlike Ireland, they had a cobweb-blowing runout, stomping Japan 52-12 at Stade de France.
The test was Dupont's first since the home Rugby World Cup 13 months ago. France's poster boy timed out from test rugby to win the Paris Olympic sevens gold medal.
Against Japan, the captain set up a couple of tries, made a couple of behind-the-back passes and came off after 65 minutes, after which France didn't score again. He's had an eventful week; sick on Tuesday, 28th birthday on Friday, and due respect from New Zealand in between. Defense coach Scott Hansen called him the master, phenomenal, and superstar.
“I don't think too much about it,” Dupont said on Friday of the compliments. “But they know that we carry a lot of threat with talented players in every area, and so if they focus on me it will open doors.”
Dupont said he began feeling sick over the weekend but it was “nothing bad” and he resumed training fully on Wednesday.
He opposed Aaron Smith in his three previous New Zealand games — including the 27-13 World Cup pool win — and will face Smith's heir Cam Roigard for the first time. Roigard also had a long gap between tests after the World Cup, enforced by a six-month knee injury.
“His profile as a nine appeals to me," Dupont said. "He carries the ball and tries different things. With (Cortez) Ratima he is the future of the All Blacks in this position.”
Roigard and Ratima have helped steer New Zealand to wins against Ireland ( 23-13 ) and England ( 24-22 ) this month.
“We all love seeing the All Blacks playing like that as rugby fans,” Dupont said. “Their physicality across the team was remarkable over the past two weekends, more so than their individualities. It's up to us to raise our level to respond to the threat that's coming.”
Prolific try-scorer Damian Penaud was still too ill but France has plugged in Gabin Villiere, flanker Paul Boudehent after two tries against Japan off the bench, midfield general Gael Fickou, and Romain Buros, the Bordeaux fullback who will debut at 27. They can equal their best win streak against the All Blacks, three, across 1994-95.
“I'm expecting everything (the All Blacks) do will cause us problems,” France coach Fabien Galthié says. “They've hit their stride and are in their fifth month of competition. They're settling the score now after some difficult seasons. They want to get the world leadership back and they're capable of responding to all forms of rugby. It's a huge and fantastic challenge.”
New Zealand made the big call to restore Beauden Barrett at flyhalf ahead of Damian McKenzie, whose assured performance in the role against Ireland earned him man of the match.
Barrett and hooker Codie Taylor, a combined 225 caps, missed Ireland because of head injuries and have come straight back in, dropping McKenzie and Asafo Aumua to the bench.
“It's a great discussion to have when you've got two 10s in form, both good tacticians, both kicking well,” All Blacks coach Scott Robertson says. “The one thing about D-Mac (McKenzie) is he's probably the best off the bench in the world. He can change the game.”
Sam Cane's head injury forced a back row shuffle to accommodate blindside flanker Samipeni Finau. Ardie Savea will start on the openside for the first time in three years and the revelatory Wallace Sititi will move to his preferred position at No. 8.
“Circumstances have led to this,” Robertson says, “but it's something we’ve looked at for this year and now’s the time.”
The trio and Roigard have one of the hardest jobs in rugby — shutting down Dupont.
“He's gone across and won Olympic gold. Toulouse, they're champions. There's a common denominator, and that's him,” Savea says. “If we don't front physically against a big French pack then we allow Antoine Dupont to run the show.”
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
France's Antoine Dupont holds a ball as he warms-up for the Autumn Nations series rugby union match between France and Japan at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans say they have a mandate to govern. But an uneasy question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress?
Even before taking office, Trump is challenging the Senate, in particular, to dare defy him over the nominations of Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other controversial choices for his Cabinet and administration positions.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Donald Trump’s vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America’s schools of perceived “ wokeness ” and “left-wing indoctrination.”
The president-elect wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to abolish diversity and inclusion offices. He wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports.
Throughout his campaign, the Republican depicted schools as a political battleground to be won back from the left. Now that he’s won the White House, he plans to use federal money as leverage to advance his vision of education across the nation.
Trump’s education plan pledges to cut funding for schools that defy him on a multitude of issues.
But he’s not ready to declare whether the House Ethics Committee should give its investigative report of former Rep. Matt Gaetz to senators weighing his nomination for attorney general.
Jeffries says he needs to speak with the lead Democrat on the panel and he doesn’t want to get ahead of that discussion.
Jeffries also says he won’t respond to every Trump nomination or statement, calling it a “distraction.” He encouraged the Senate to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.
“Advice and consent should mean something. It certainly doesn’t mean rolling over and giving any administration, Democratic or Republican, what they want,” Jeffries said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail that America would have the best administration possible, but his nominees so far raise the question of whether the president-elect is fulfilling that promise.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Jeffries particularly singled out Trump’s choice of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., by way of example, the best America has to offer? Will he and others give us the best opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the American people?"
He says the answer is clear.
Election victories for Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people reinforced a widespread backlash against trans rights. For America’s LGBTQ-rights movement, it adds up to one of the most sustained setbacks in its history.
For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there's also a spirit of resilience — a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding.
“I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sports event on TV without seeing a commercial where trans people were portrayed as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who teaches at Barnard College in New York.
Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access.
That's according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. About 4 in 10 voters had a very or somewhat favorable opinion of Kennedy, and roughly 4 in 10 had a very or somewhat unfavorable view. Slightly more than 1 in 10 did not know enough about Kennedy to have an opinion.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance may be at odds with many voters’ interests, if he’s confirmed to lead the Health and Human Services Department. About half of voters said they wanted the government to be “more involved” in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases. About one-quarter said the government’s current involvement is “about right,” and only about 2 in 10 wanted the government less involved. Roughly 3 in 10 parents of children under 18 years old want the government less involved, compared to about 2 in 10 voters without children under 18.
About 6 in 10 voters said they wanted the government more involved in ensuring that Americans have health care coverage, and a similar share said they wanted the government to take a bigger role in forgiving medical debt. About three-quarters wanted the government more involved in lowering the cost of prescription drugs. In an election where pocketbook concerns were a primary focus, more than half of voters said they were “very concerned” about their health care costs.
In a report released in April, the U.N.’s World Health Organization said global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the past half-century, roughly equivalent to six lives every minute of every year. More than 101 million lives were those of children.
Asked in Geneva on Friday about the nomination of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters it’s up to member countries — the U.S. is one of the biggest funders and sources of technical support to the U.N. agency — to decide who they appoint.
She also said vaccines were “absolutely critical” to good health outcomes.
“Vaccines are the reason so many more of us have survived to adulthood than we ever did before,” said Harris. “Vaccine-preventable diseases have disappeared in the communities … where vaccination has been widely available and has been widely taken up.”
After a resounding election victory, delivering what President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans said is a mandate to govern, an uneasy political question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress?
Trump is laying down a gauntlet even before taking office challenging the Senate, in particular, to dare defy him over the nominations of Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other controversial choices for his Cabinet and administration positions.
The promise of unified government, with the Republican Party’s sweep of the White House and GOP majorities in the House and Senate, is making way for a more complicated political reality as congressional leaders confront anew what it means to line up with Trump’s agenda.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife Cheryl Hines arrive before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President-elect Donald Trump listens during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
