Bernard Laporte will step back from his role as president of the French Rugby Federation after his corruption conviction, but he could return to the top office.
Former France coach Laporte wanted to remain in charge at the federation (FFR), but on Monday accepted a ruling by its ethics committee that he must relinquish power.
Handed a two-year suspended prison sentence last Tuesday, Laporte stepped down from his role as vice-chairman of World Rugby within hours as an act of "self-suspension." Now he will follow a similar tack with French rugby's top authority.
An investigation examined a number of decisions made by Laporte that favoured Mohed Altrad, the president of Top 14 side Montpellier, including the award of a shirt sponsorship deal for the France national team to Altrad's construction business.
Laporte, who was France's head coach between 1999 and 2007, was also hit with a €75,000 fine and a two-year ban from involvement in rugby by the Paris Criminal Court.
He has denied any wrongdoing and is to appeal against his court punishments. Consequently, the FFR has not ousted Laporte permanently at this stage, giving him the chance to clear his name.
The ethics committee told the 58-year-old he must accept "provisional withdrawal, as a precaution until a final criminal decision" from all presidential duties, with a temporary successor to be put in place.
According to the FFR, Laporte elected to follow the instruction "to the letter." He will remain president, officially at least, but be powerless.
"He is asked to withdraw temporarily while the final criminal decision is made," the federation said.
"This implies in particular that the president will no longer participate in the various decision-making bodies of the French Rugby Federation, and will no longer sign any commitment under the FFR."
The FFR said it intended for the action to take effect after a meeting between Laporte and Amelie Oudea-Castera, France's sports minister, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Oudea-Castera was among the first to call for Laporte to step down following his conviction, saying it would be inappropriate for him to remain in control ahead of France hosting the Rugby World Cup next year.
She has also voiced opposition to the idea of a stand-in president, questioning the "legitimacy" of such a presence at the top of the organisation.
France captain Antoine Dupont given go-ahead to return following surgery
France captain Antoine Dupont has been cleared to return to action following surgery on his facial fracture.
Scrum-half Dupont became a doubt for the remainder of his country’s home Rugby World Cup after suffering the injury during a 96-0 win over Namibia on September 21.
The French Rugby Federation announced the 26-year-old was back with Fabien Galthie’s squad at their base in Aix-en-Provence.
Les Bleus play Italy in their final Pool A match on Friday, with a likely quarter-final to come on the weekend of October 14-15.
“Antoine has been given the go-ahead to resume physical activity taking it step by step,” read a statement from the French federation.
“This activity will take place under the supervision of the French national team’s medical staff.”
Dupont was taken off in the 46th minute against Namibia after opposition captain Johan Deysel made a head-on-head tackle and was sent off.
Deysel was subsequently banned for five matches.
France’s health manager Bruno Boussagol said on Thursday he was “convinced” Toulouse player Dupont would not be available for Les Bleus’ upcoming match with Italy.
Bordeaux’s Maxime Lucu is expected to deputise in Lyon.
France assistant coach William Servat told a press conference on Tuesday he had “no doubts” Dupont would be available for the quarter-finals.
Galthie’s side, who have already beaten New Zealand, Uruguay and Namibia, are likely to face South Africa, Ireland or Scotland in the last eight of the tournament.
Dave Kilcoyne: Ireland are frothing at the mouth to tackle Scotland at World Cup
Prop Dave Kilcoyne believes Ireland’s players are “frothing at the mouth” to face Scotland and insists there is no sense of self-satisfaction following a euphoric win over South Africa.
Andy Farrell’s men underlined their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation by defeating the reigning champions 13-8 last weekend in Paris.
But progression to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals is not yet assured moving towards next Saturday’s return to Stade de France for a pivotal showdown with the Scots.
Munster loosehead Kilcoyne believes a memorable evening against the Springboks was “parked” during some well-earned time off as attention quickly shifted to the team’s final Pool B fixture.
“Lads went away and spent a bit of downtime and were itching to get back in, bouncing, and it’s all eyes on Scotland now,” he said.
“That game is parked, we’ve a couple of massive learnings from it and we definitely won’t be falling in love with ourselves.
“Paulie (forwards coach Paul O’Connell) had a few tips for us in areas we were deficient in and we were out there (in training) making sure we had them right for Scotland.
View this post on Instagram“In a competition like this you’ve got to keep learning with every game and you’ve got to keep getting better.
“Next week poses a massive challenge to us again so we’ve got to prepare as best we can for that.
“Everyone’s frothing at the mouth to be involved.”
Kilcoyne is enjoying his second World Cup, having overcome the scare of suffering a hamstring tear during last month’s training camp in Portugal.
The 34-year-old remained in the French capital with other members of the squad to enjoy a couple of days off after the South Africa match before travelling back to camp in Tours ahead of schedule.
Kilcoyne feels the current Ireland setup is the best he has been involved in and praised the impact of head coach Andy Farrell.
“I’m loving it over here, you read people writing about the incredible environment Faz (Farrell) has created for the players,” said Kilcoyne.
“And I don’t say it for the sake of saying it, but I think his emotional intelligence is through the roof.
View this post on Instagram“You look at that South Africa game, such a big occasion physically and mentally fatiguing and to have the foresight to give the lads two days’ break, he probably knew how mentally and physically fatiguing that game was going to be for the whole country.
“I’m not going to be saying about other coaching environments but this is definitely the best Ireland environment I’ve ever been involved in since I’ve been playing, 100 per cent.
“When there’s great camaraderie in the squad, you love being around it.”
Captain Ardie Savea proud of New Zealand’s 14-try drubbing of Italy
New Zealand captain Ardie Savea expressed his pride after the All Blacks demolished Italy at the Rugby World Cup.
An opening defeat by France that put their quarter-final hopes in jeopardy was forgotten as they ran in 14 tries in Lyon, eventually winning 96-17.
Savea told ITV1: “Not just myself but all the boys that played tonight, to put that effort in, I’m very proud.
“We’ve got talent across the board. We hadn’t really clicked but tonight we played some free rugby and that’s how I want my boys to play. We put a lot into this week and we got the rewards tonight.”
Centre Jordie Barrett added: “It’s massively satisfying. We didn’t start the tournament the way we wanted to but we put a few things in place and a step in the right direction tonight.”
He is not getting carried away about the All Blacks’ chances in the tournament as a whole, though, saying: “We’re one day at a time. I know it sounds cliche but we nailed our preparation for this game.
“We’ve got Uruguay in front of us in six days’ time so we’re not going to treat our preparation any differently and anything further than that is a bonus.”
Italy now face the prospect of having to beat France to have any chance of reaching the last eight, and fly-half Tommaso Allan felt his side contributed heavily to their downfall.
“When you give so many penalties away against New Zealand and they keep playing in your half, they’re going to keep scoring,” he said. “We lost all our scrums, lost all our line-outs really, so it’s just tough to start from that.
“We talked at half-time about trying to get some confidence for next week. We know it’s going to be as tough as this if not tougher. We’ve just got to stick together now. Start from scratch, don’t even think about this game, throw it in the bin.”
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