France and Pumas looking to sign off autumn rugby in style

ENT

France and Pumas looking to sign off autumn rugby in style

2024-11-22 00:28 Last Updated At：00:30

PARIS (AP) — One thing is certain for Fabien Galthie’s France this autumn. Nothing is certain.

Since the start of the autumn tests, the coach has not hesitated to leave out established stars, and so far this has worked well. France takes on Argentina in their final test of the year on Friday at Stade de France on the back of victories against Japan and New Zealand.

Stalwart players have been sacrificed this month one after another for the good of the team. Gael Fickou was benched against Japan and Matthieu Jalibert was benched against the All Blacks, then refused to accept it and left the squad. It's Gregory Alldritt's turn to pay the price of Galthie's rotation policy.

The No. 8 was not even in the matchday 23 facing the Pumas after Galthie made four changes.

Galthie reasoned he's trying to create depth and more experience ahead of the Six Nations and more in mind of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

“There is no polemics,” he said.

The players left out, at least Fickou, did not seem to take it personally.

Fickou joked, “I was a bit cold on the bench. That’s what group life is all about. You can’t play every game. There are also some great players in my position who are growing and who have talent. It’s up to me to be good enough to stay here.”

In any case, competition for places is paying dividends. A year after its brokenhearted exit in the quarterfinals of its home Rugby World Cup at the hands of South Africa and following a summer tour of South America marred by off-field controversies, France is back in form.

Beating New Zealand 30-29 last weekend, with talismanic captain Antoine Dupont aboard in his second test of the year, was a statement that France is a serious threat again.

France and the Pumas split a series in Argentina in July, the Pumas winning the last match 33-25. But the Pumas have not beaten Les Tricolores in France for 10 years.

Unlike Galthie, Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi is bidding on continuity since taking charge. His Pumas have thrashed Italy 57-17 and lost to Ireland 22-19. Contepomi has made just one change to his starters, with Gonzalo Garcia at scrumhalf for fresh legs on Friday night.

“It's a real threat looming,” Dupont said. “Looking at what they have been capable of in recent months, there is a real danger. Winning in New Zealand, beating South Africa in the Rugby Championship is no mean feat."

The Pumas have also been bolstered in the reserves by the return for the first time this month of flanker Marcos Kremer from a knee injury and wing Mateo Carreras, who became a father. They started both tests against France in July.

Kremer and Carreras also are among 10 Pumas who play for clubs in France.

“We have to look at our shirt and from there put it where it deserves, regardless of the opponent,” Carreras said. "The extra spice of it being France gives us that desire to go out and win. The connection in defense is going to be key. We have to keep the ball a lot and maintain discipline.”

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Costas Simitis, former Greek prime minister and socialist leader, dies at 88

2025-01-05 16:55 Last Updated At：17:00

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported.

Simitis was taken to a hospital in the city of Corinth early Sunday morning from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without a pulse, the hospital’s director was quoted as saying by Greek media. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Simitis, a co-founder of the Socialist PASOK party in 1974, eventually became the successor to the party’s founding leader, Andreas Papandreou, with whom he had an often contentious relationship that shaped the party’s nature. Simitis was a low-key pragmatist where Papandreou was a charismatic, fiery populist. He was also a committed pro-European, while Papandreou banked on strong opposition to Greece’s joining what was then the European Economic Community in the 1970s, before changing tack once he became prime minister.

When the profligate first four years of socialist rule, from 1981 to 1985, resulted in a rapidly deteriorating economy, Papandreou elevated Simitis to be finance minister and oversee a tight austerity program. Finances improved, inflation was partly tamed, but Simitis was pushed to resign in 1987 when Papandreou, eyeing an upcoming election, announced a generous wages policy, undermining the goals of the austerity program.

The socialists returned to power in 1993, but Papandreou was ailing, and he finally resigned the premiership in January 1996. A tight two rounds of voting among the socialist lawmakers unexpectedly elevated Simitis to the post of prime minister.

Simitis considered Greece’s entry into the eurozone, in January 2001, as the signature achievement of his premiership. But he also helped secure the 2004 Olympic Games for Athens and presided over a vast program of infrastructure building, including a brand new airport and two subway lines, to help host the games. He also helped Cyprus join the European Union in 2004.

His critics on the right and left did their best to denigrate his legacy, highlighting a dubious debt swap concluded after the country had joined the eurozone as an attempt to massage the debt numbers.

In the end, it was determined opposition from his own party, including trade union leaders, to pension reform in 2001 that fatally weakened Simitis’ administration. He decided to resign his party post and not contest the 2004 election, five months before the Olympics, rather than face certain defeat to the conservatives.

George Papandreou, son of the socialist party’s founder, succeeded him as party leader, and in 2008 expelled Simitis from the PASOK parliamentary group after the two men clashed over policies, including Papandreou’s proposal to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Simitis left parliament in 2009, but not before issuing a prescient warning that financial mismanagement would bring the country under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund, which would impose harsh austerity. In the end, it was the IMF, jointly with the EU, that imposed a harsh regime on a bankrupt country in 2010.

Costas Simitis was born on June 23, 1936, the younger son of two politically active parents. His lawyer father Georgios was a member of the left-leaning resistance “government” during the German occupation and his mother, Fani, was an active feminist.

Simitis studied law at the University of Marburg, in Germany, in the 1950s, and economics and politics at the London School of Economics in the early 1960s. He later taught law at the University of Athens. His elder brother Spiros, who died in 2023, was a noted legal scholar in Germany, specializing in data protection.

Simitis is survived by his wife of 60 years, Daphne, and two daughters.