(Reuters) – France centre Jonathan Danty will miss the opening World Cup match against New Zealand at the Stade de France due to a hamstring injury, L’Equipe reported on Wednesday.
The clash will kick off the tournament in France on Sept. 8 before the hosts play Uruguay, Namibia and Italy later on in Pool A.
Danty had started the last three warm-up matches for France against Scotland (30-27), Fiji (34-17) and Australia (41-17) on Sunday.
Danty’s absence adds to France’s worries after Romain Ntamack was ruled out of the World Cup with cruciate ligament rupture. Cyril Baille will miss the opening matches due to a calf injury.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, writing by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk)
