Sports

Bastareaud contributes to the French victory at Murrayfield
by Zuzana Zelenakova

The French left Murrayfield as winners after they beat their Scottish rugby colleagues 18-9. It was also a great chance for the Stade Francais centre Mathieu Bastareaud to get back in the game and prove himself valuable. It was his first match after three month ban resulting from the 2009 New Zealand tour scandal. In June 2009 Bastareaud returned from New Zealand tour early after suffering facial injuries. At first, he claimed that he was attacked by several men upon his late return to the hotel in Wellington, New Zealand. However, the New Zealand Police investigation proved through security camera footage that he returned to his room uninjured and therefore the assault co! uld not have taken place as he described it. After that Bastareaud confessed that tripped over a table in his own room and only made up the story to avoid confrontation with the club management. In the aftermath, there were allegations that the team management was engaged in cover-up and the affair even had diplomatic consequences as prime ministers of both countries issued an apology to each other for caused inconveniences. During the match at Murrayfield it was Scotland that had the edge on its opponent at the beginning thanks to Paterson scoring three points. But it did not take long and France answered with Clerc that managed to break down the left wing with his first touch of the ball. Bastareaud touched down twice in the first half of the game and thus helped France to open its Six Nations campaign with a victory. "Scotland is a team with a big heart and it is hard to play against them," man of the match Imanol Harinordoquy said. "When we want to win, we know we have ! to give a big performance. We won the match in the scrum and i! n the fi ght."

related story (sgx16375): http://www.france24.com/en/20100207-france-beat-scotland-ten...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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posted by Blog TechSource @ 3:27 AM