Tortured genius overlooked for versatile nipper

Confidence-drained David Skrela will not feature any further in France’s World Cup shambles campaign. The Clermont Auvergne-bound outhalf re-injured his shoulder against Japan, an injury that first flared up during the August match between France and Ireland in Dublin.

He had been playing brutal stuff anyway, and the Mole can’t understand how he made the grade ahead of Lionel Beauxis in the first place. Ah well, I suppose there’s a simple answer for that: Lievremont.

Capricious Lievremont has again overlooked the tortured genius in sourcing a replacement for Skrela. Skipping a generation, he has gone from the 32-year old Skrela to the 20-year old Toulousain, Jean-Marc Doussain. Nevermind that Beauxis has already played in a world cup semi-final [and actually scored all his side’s points in that game] or that Doussain has very few first-class games to his name, Lievremont will be Lievremont … answerable to nobody.

Doussain is actually a quality young player, and Skrela looks like a guy suffering a severe crisis of confidence; there’s little doubt in the Mole’s mind that this will work out well for la France.