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Boom youngster Mosese Tuipulotu has emphatically pledged his allegiance to Australia after emerging as a future Wallabies star with some eye-catching pre-season form for the NSW Waratahs.Finally injury-free after almost two years out with a torn ACL and then quad issues, Tuipulotu is giving Waratahs coach Darren Coleman food for thought after starring in the centres against the Brumbies and Queensland Reds.The 22-year-old bagged a nice try in the Tahs' 33-32 win over the Reds in Narrabri on Saturday before flatly dismissing fears he may follow in the footsteps of older brother Sione, who is tearing it up for Scotland.Lost to the Melbourne Rebels three years ago, Sione Tuipulotu has been a stand-out in Scotland's best-ever start to a Six Nations campaign with big wins over England and Wales.But Moses, who also has the option of representing Tonga through his father, has no such plans to abandon his country of birth."Nah, nah. It's always been a dream of mine to play for the Wallabies and to wear the gold jersey," he said on Monday."Growing up as a youngster, seeing all those great players. Even here, Michael Hooper. That would be a great goal of mine to become a Wallaby."Our grandma's Scottish and we're all really proud of Sione that he's representing part of our heritage."But I'm backing gold. Obviously he's my brother and that's my blood and I'm always going to support him but I was born in Australia and I'm always going to support the Wallabies."Tuipulotu is presently behind Wallabies pair Lalakai Foketi and Izaia Perese in the Waratahs' midfield pecking order, but assistant coach Chris Whitaker has huge raps on the versatile centre who is equally at home in the 12 or 13 jumpers."The last couple of years he's had a couple of injuries that have slowed his progress but this year he's been on the field every day and his progress has just been immense," Whitaker said."So I'm expecting big things from him probably soon."Whitaker said the exciting prospect had a skill set that's the envy of teammates."He's really good on his feet, a really balanced runner and he used to play halfback when he was young so his passing skills are exceptional. He's got a good, long pass on him too."So it's just time in the saddle. Last year in Shute Shield he got games back to back and he improved with every game and we've seen this year in pre-season he hasn't missed a beat and he just gets better and better."If he keeps doing what he's doing, I'm sure he's not too far away (from Waratahs and Wallabies selection). That's for sure."Click Here: montpellier rugby jersey

L’Équipe report this morning that Antero Henrique, who returned to Paris Saint-Germain this summer in a role that involved finding transfer-listed players new clubs, will retain a role as a consultant for the season ahead.

The Ligue 1 champions’ former director of sport, who held the role from 2017 to 2019, will not have an official title at the club. He has already started to work on the January transfer window, with the departures of several young players as well as the potential sale of Keylor Navas on the table.

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Henrique was brought back into the fray after being named sporting director of the Qatari domestic championship back in March and involving himself in Kylian Mbappé’s contract extension.

Despite criticism from both Christophe Galtier and sporting advisor Luís Campos over his work in the transfer window, Henrique generally appears to have impressed within the club as a result of the sale (or loan with an option to buy) of several unwanted players on hefty contracts.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend likened Duhan van der Merwe’s outstanding try to one scored on a PlayStation in his side’s stunning 29-23 win over England.

The wing showed tremendous pace and power to run more than 50 metres, beating five tackles to score a very strong contender for try of the tournament.

Crucial brace

Van der Merwe was not only the hero for his long-range try, but the decisive five-pointer scored late on to down the Red Rose.

Townsend lauded the superstar wing for both his tries in what was a stunning performance.

He said: “It was incredible, wasn’t it? It reminded me of when, for everybody of a certain age, you played Jonah Lomu Rugby and suddenly one person can go quicker.

“Duhan hasn’t had much rugby over the last few weeks. He’s trained really well with us but to play like he did today on the back of an injury, and not playing for Edinburgh, is real testament to how he’s got himself in this position, both mentally and physically.

“And I almost saw a different side to Duhan there as he stepped and then accelerated away.

“His finish for the last try was similar to two years ago (an 11-6 victory) when he finished in the opposite corner.

“It was a brilliant finish but that first try was amazing, and one that gets the Scotland supporters going crazy in the stand and silences everyone else because you don’t see tries like that very often.”

Townsend admitted it is emotional to get a win at Twickenham and one in front of travelling Scottish fans. The coach had beaten England in their previous trip to the famous ground two years ago but the game was played behind closed doors.

“I felt a lot of emotion at the final whistle,” said Townsend. “I don’t know whether it was because of the noise or the occasion.

“I never came close to winning here when I was a player and to do it now when you’re part of a team that does get a win. Two years ago there was no crowd here, so to do it today was emotional.

“We celebrate our wins so we had a bit of fun in the changing room.”

Challenging start for Borthwick

Meanwhile, Steve Borthwick, whose reign as England head coach starts with a loss, credited Scotland for their performance and wants his side to learn and grow from this.

“Clearly we’re disappointed with the result,” he said. “Scotland have controlled this fixture in recent years and I thought they were very good.

“They didn’t get a lot of chances but the chances they got they took ruthlessly. We need to make sure we limit those chances. They moved the ball very well from deep in attack.

“We saw some growth, particularly in the attacking side of the game. The team looked like they had points in them and try-scoring potential. But we want to win and we’re disappointed that we didn’t.

“We were hit by a couple of scores in that first half that came out of nowhere really.

“The team responded incredibly well because if you had rewound a bit, the team wouldn’t have reacted in the way it did.

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“To go into half-time up was credit to the players. At 20-12 up, we shouldn’t be letting that game get away from us, but we did.

“We’ll have a good look at it and part of growing as a team is going through some pain. We could have won that game but didn’t.”

A few hours after the former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Aminata Diallo was released from jail under judicial supervision, one of her lawyers, namely Mourad Battikh, expressed his firm belief in Diallo being innocent in the case concerning her and her former teammate Kheira Hamraoui. 

Speaking to the program “Touche pas à mon poste” on C8, Battikh chastised the media’s relentless endeavour to portray his client as a perpetrator. Ahead of Diallo’s release from jail, Battikh (as quoted by RMC Sport) said:

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“She [Diallo] has nothing to do with this case. I would like to say it is my honour to defend Aminata Diallo. She is a professional player, of a high level, who sacrificed her life for football and who has been smeared, lynched, blacklisted, and singled out for 96 hours. It’s a surge. She is the subject of media harassment against her.”

In the aftermath of the attack on Hamraoui on September 14, 2021, by four men allegedly hired by Diallo to handicap the player, the accused were taken into police custody. In a set of latest revelations, it has emerged that the planned assault on the player was a result of “sporting rivalry” and “jealousy” between Hamraoui and Diallo.

According to Foot Mercato, Lucien Favre reacted to rumours that he was imminently leaving OGC Nice – which included talks with former PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino. Speaking to journalists ahead of Les Aiglons trip to PSG on Saturday, Favre said the following: 

“I have lived very well these last few days. The rumours are the rumours, I know that, there is no problem. We had a meeting with the directors, where the sporting director spoke, it was good.”

RMC Sport reported last week that Lucien Favre is set to stay on as Nice manager, with the decision being made by Les Aiglons’ upper management after a long meeting with the Swiss coach.

At the start of the week, INEOS sporting director Dave Brailsford had been looking to bring in a replacement after the team’s poor start to the season, with Mauricio Pochettino notably being linked. However, an agreement was not found with the former Paris Saint-Germain manager, who is currently without a club.

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As a result, Favre’s second stint in charge of Nice is set to continue for now, as the team currently find themselves lying in 13th place with just two wins in their eight matches so far. They face PSG next after the international break, before a trip to face Czech outfit FC Slovácko in the Conference League, in which they remain winless after two draws.

L’Équipe report this afternoon that Nice are set to hire Lens’ sporting coordinator Florent Ghisolfi as their new Sporting Director.

The former Bastia and Reims midfielder, who retired from his playing career in 2014, had gone on to hold assistant manager roles with the Paris Saint-Germain women’s team as well as Lorient.

He then joined Lens and led a project that has seen the Artois club promoted and then establish themselves as a Europe-chasing side. The Sang et Or are currently fourth in Ligue 1, after an impressive win over Lyon on Sunday night.

In the wake of Julien Fournier’s departure in July, Les Aiglons’ search for a new SD had been a major topic of discussion among the likes of INEOS director Dave Brailsford and club president Jean-Pierre Rivère, not least after a chaotic transfer window and a poor start to the season.

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Ghisolfi emerged as the leading candidate – the 37-year-old took his time to reflect on the offer but has decided to take up the new project. He will also be working again with Fabrice Boquet – Nice’s Director General – the two having both been at Lorient.

Brailsford was notably impressed by Ghisolfi’s ability to unearth talents such as Jonathan Clauss and build a team with other high-level players like Séko Fofana or Cheick Doucouré, as well as giving the team a clear identity on the pitch.

One of Ghisolfi’s major tasks to start with, even before the transfer window opens, will be to restructure the club’s scouting and performance departments, among other internal teams.

Following RC Lens’ derby day defeat (their first this season) to Lille on Sunday evening, manager Franck Haise spoke of his disappointment in the following press match press conference, in which he regretted not having enough chances to score in the second half after going behind practically at half time, as transcribed by L’Équipe. 

What is your feeling after the derby loss at Lille ?

Disappointment when you lose a match when it hasn’t happened for a while is bound to happen. A derby even more so. In the first half, we can have some regrets, we did some good things, we must open the score. But in the second half, we lacked a lot of things to have real regrets about the game. We should have had more balance. The only real chance we had was a shot from very far away (70th). We didn’t have enough clear-cut chances to have any real regrets about the game.

Florian Sotoca was struggling in this match…

Our positional play was not perfect, especially on the right side. We caused problems on the left, but rarely on the right. It’s not just Flo’, it’s the overall positioning that wasn’t good enough. When we lose we do it together. He missed the penalty and he blames himself, but he shouldn’t blame himself too much, because football is made of mistakes. It happens to everyone, even Flo.

What do you attribute the difficulties in the game to?They came to press us a lot, we had difficulties to get the ball out cleanly, that added to the frustration. We didn’t have much control and Lille were very intense. We needed to be much more accurate, something we almost never managed in the second half.

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L’Équipe indicate this morning that Real Madrid have little hopes of signing Kylian Mbappé in the January transfer window, despite reports indicating the Frenchman wants to force through a move away from Paris Saint-Germain as soon as possible.

The Merengue upper management doubt that the World Cup winner will really leave the French capital this winter, and that even if he does negotiations would be difficult given the rivalry which has developed between the two clubs over Mbappé’s situation and the Super League. The French international’s behaviour, notably the impression that he sees himself as above the team, has also raised concern for the Spaniards.

For the Champions League holders, yesterday’s reports are simply a way for the forward to put pressure on his club. Los Blancos are nevertheless keeping a close eye on the situation, even if they are satisfied with their current squad and see Mbappé’s potential salary as a stumbling block. Florentino Pérez has not closed the door to the Frenchman, even if he was frustrated by the latter’s decision to stay at PSG last spring. 

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Speaking during the last international break, Lionel Messi (35) said that he was feeling “more comfortable” at PSG this season, and the numbers back that up. 

Despite registering 15 assists, which put him top of the Ligue 1 assists charts, in the 2021/22 season, it was widely accepted that Messi didn’t reach his usual lofty heights. This season, he has already registered 7 Ligue 1 assists in just 10 league matches. 

It is in other metrics of performance that Messi’s revival is most pronounced. Last season, he only managed six Ligue 1 goals, and this term he has already reached five with just a fraction of the season played. In many areas, he is registering Europe-best figures. 

In Europe’s top five divisions, he is top in passes into the area (55), through balls (8), progressive passes (119), shot-creating actions (66), shots on target (25), and total shots (49). 

“Last year, as I’ve already said, I was going through a difficult period. I never found myself. Now it’s different. I feel good; I feel different from last year. I knew it was going to be like this. I’m more comfortable with the club, the dressing room, my teammates and the game. I feel very good, so I’m starting to enjoy myself again,” said Messi after Argentina’s 3-0 win against Honduras in September.

Whilst acclimatisation is a factor in Messi’s return, so is the system change instilled by new Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier. Deploying his side in a 3-4-3, Messi is naturally playing closer to Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, facilitating the types of tight interchanges off which Messi thrives. Should he continue on his current trajectory, he looks set to obliterate his figures for last season in what could potentially be his last season with the Parisian club. Talks over a renewal are on hold until after the World Cup, which begins in late November. 

Luke Entwistle

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L’Équipe report that Barcelona’s Jules Koundé, Arsenal’s William Saliba, Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté, and Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano are in line to make the French sqauad for the 2022 World Cup as a replacement for Manchester United defender Raphaël Varane.

In United’s Premier League game against Chelsea, Varane came off injured in the second half. Recent reports suggest that the defender hurt the hamstring muscles in his right thigh and is now a serious candidate to miss the upcoming World Cup for France.

As per L’Équipe, the defensive trio for Les Bleus in the World Cup could include Benoît Badiashile, Lucas Hernandez, and Presnel Kimpembe should vice-captain Varane miss the plane for Qatar. But even then, France will have to bring in a substitute. Barcelona’s Jules Koundé is considered one of the favourites to make the squad in the place of the Man United centre-back.

Koundé’s multidimensional capacity of defending is widely sought after in the French national team.

Saliba has impressed with his recent performances with Arsenal, but his inexperience at the international level could jeopardise his 2022 World Cup ambitions.

Konaté has had a fair share of injuries since the start of the season, making his credibility a bit fragile. Upamecano has never fulfilled his potential for Les Bleus, but he remains an option in the absence of Varane for Didier Deschamps, who will announce France’s World Cup squad on November 9.

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