Way down the ranks of rugby union, Poland have a secret weapon as they try to convert themselves into minor powers of the sport: the French connection.
Coach and former Poland international Tomasz Putra has forged a squad where the names end in the typically-Polish “ski,” but the banter betrays the southern twang of France’s rugby heartlands.
Since taking the helm in 2006, he has brought on board a rugby-honed Gallic contingent to lift the level of the locals’ amateur game.
They sometimes form half the squad, but he rejects suggestions that they are ringers.
“There are Polish players and there are players with Polish blood. It’s Poland’s national team,” Putra, 47, said.
Les Bleus may have got their hands on Polish-origin Frenchmen Dimitri Szarzewski, Romain Millo-Chluski, Frederic Michalak and David Skrela.
But Putra, whose side stand 34th in the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) 95-nation ranking, has kept headhunting as he tries to climb the ladder.
He brushes off upsets like a recent 5-19 loss to the Czechs which foiled their run in the minnows’ qualifying pool for the 2011 World Cup.
Poland plan to cast the net beyond France to England, Australia and South Africa, which are likewise home to hundreds of thousands of people with Polish roots.
The IRB allows teams to tap foreigners with the right ancestry. Italian-origin Argentines are a fixture with Six Nations’ newcomers Italy, for example.
Prop Bastien Siepielski, 29, was among Putra’s first picks.
“We all try in our own way to add a brick to the building, and help move Polish rugby forward,” said Siepielski, whose grandparents were Polish. “It’s also a kind of homage to my ancestors.”
Siepielski played for Stade Francais in France’s Top 14 professional first division before moving to second-tier Pro D2 club Union Bordeaux Begles.
Edged out this season, he is keeping his hand in with Marmande-Casteljaloux in the Federale 1 amateur third division.
Captain and flanker Stanislas Krzesinski, recruited two years ago, said joining Poland never crossed his mind, until his phone rang.
“It was Tomasz Putra who called me. And here I am. It’s a fantastic experience. I don’t see why I would have turned it down,” he said.
Krzesinski played for the Top 14’s Albi, but shifted to Federale 1 club Mazamet this season.
Hooker Yann Lewandowski, 30, also got the call in 2007.
“I’m 50 percent Polish, and 50 percent French,” said Lewandowski, of Federale 1’s Cahors.
“There’s a double draw. It’s about playing for Poland, and playing at international level full stop,” said the grandson of emigrant miners.
The trio can’t speak much Polish, although Lewandowski, visibly moved, made a convincing stab at the national anthem at the Oct. 25 Czech match.
Language isn’t a big problem, however.
Putra knows France inside out, playing and coaching there since 1988. He flips effortlessly between French and Polish.
“Things work really well. In the team, we speak a bit of Polish, a bit of French, a bit of English. It’s really enriching!” said Lewandowski, adding that the players prefer earthy Polish swearwords.
Poland also boast Top 14 young guns like prop Eric Piorkowski, 22, of Castres, and less obviously-Polish full-back David Chartier, 20, of Bayonne.
The Frenchmen are a boon, said winger Tomasz Rokicki, 22, of Lechia Gdansk in Poland’s eight-club Ekstraliga.
“Our team-mates from France bring a level of play that we haven’t achieved. They help us play better rugby. Their role is really important,” he said.
Putra also feeds young Poles with potential into the French league, hoping to emulate flanker Gregor Kacala of 1997 European Cup winners Brive.
Among them: flanker Mateusz Bartoszek, 19, at Albi, and towering lock Michal Kruzycki, 21, at Pro D2 side Lyon.
“The idea is — as we say round our way — to mix some good mayonnaise with the French and Poles and raise our game,” Krzesinski said.
The mix has worked already: last year, Poland were promoted to Division 2A, the second of seven European tiers, minus the top-drawer Six Nations.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS