France's national rugby team will wear rainbow laces this weekend in support of Gareth Thomas following his assault.
Former Wales captain Thomas, who played at French club Toulouse for three years, was the victim of a homophobic attack last Saturday in Cardiff. This Saturday, French players will make the gesture during their Test match against Fiji in Paris.
French Rugby Federation vice-president Serge Simon tweeted: "Dear Gareth Thomas, all French Rugby is with you."
The Rainbow Laces campaign began in 2013, when gay rights group Stonewall invited footballers in England and Scotland to wear them.
He added: "To show our support, the French rugby players will wear a rainbow shoe lace during the France - Fiji game on Saturday night. We're all in with you in this matter."
An amazing autumn series for Wales, 4 wins from 4, ending the Australian hoodoo, and showing some real talent in depth and breadth from a relatively fresh squad.
A good series for all the home nations, really. Amazing play from Ireland, and really solid performances from both England and Scotland. The 6 Nations next year is going to be very exciting given the form all the teams are in.
Also, is it just me, or are the Southern hemisphere teams looking much less dominant than normal coming into the world cup year? I think 2019 could be a really open contest between the top tier North and South nations.
Speaking of the world cup, the final groups are out
Both Pool C and D really look like theyre going to be absolute murder.
It really feels like the tier 2 nations are getting better every year, I know Irelands 2nd team made light work of the US on Saturday but the intensity the yanks brough was very impressive and they played some great rugby in the early going. It feels like theyre in the same porition Ireland were 15-20 years ago, can give you a great game for 40 minutes and fall away in the second half. If they and a couple of other teams can continue this improvemnt we could see major shake ups in tier 1 and tier 2 status. No wonder the Argies are pushing for a nations league.
Tomous wrote:Farrell stepping up to take the Irish job post WC.
I thought Schmidt was nailed for the All Blacks job but from his comments, it seems he's leaving coaching to focus on his family.
Yeah hes one of those obsessive types who just doesnt switch off, thats great for his employer and the fans of his team but it has to take a toll on his family. Be interesting to see where he goes, does he stay living in Ireland or does he move back to New Zealand. Hes a huge loss to Ireland but its weirdly a good thing hes not taking up a position elsewhere, means no other team can benefit from having him.
Sketchy play from Wales, but a win is a win, I guess. Hopefully the squad have found their feet now, and can go on to improve. Scotland were daft to let Italy get those tries in the last 10 minutes, and the scoreline did not reflect the game at all. Shame to see Ireland lose the way they did, given how great their form has been, but they were just swamped by England, and couldn't manufacture chances.
No, I've got a massive tv and surround sound system at home so I'll be watching there.
We walked to a new (for us) pub on Saturday and didn't realise the England game was on (because we wouldn't have gone). Sure enough it filled up with you know who people going, " COME ON EYE LUND". It also went every quiet near the end and then cleared out before it finished, save for one guy walking around going, "English BASTARDS. strawberry floating English. English bastards." But he got told to shut the strawberry float up and leave, and the remaining people there were having a measured discussion about how good the game was.