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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Luke McLaughlin in Paris

Erasmus drafts World Cup narrative with the flair of a French novelist

Rassie Erasmus World Cup France Antoine Dupont Fabien Galthié Zola Rugby South Africa Springboks
Rassie Erasmus
Rassie Erasmus combined a mea culpa about past comments regarding officials with barbs about France winning penalties by exaggerating high tackles. Photograph: Paul Harding/Getty Images

Staying in a hotel overlooking the numerous, bustling platforms of Gare de l’Est it is natural to think of Zola. The novelist Émile, rather than the former Chelsea player and Watford manager, Gianfranco.

The Frenchman’s books are full of brutish, freakishly strong men who regularly commit terrifying acts of violence; appropriate enough with the Rugby World Cup’s quarter-finals weekend looming.

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