FRANCE HEAD COACH Fabien Galthié has named a strong team for their Six Nations opener against Italy. Les Bleus, who finished second to England in last year’s championship, begin their campaign in Rome on Saturday [2.15pm, Virgin Media One, UTV].
France go into the tournament without the services of star fly-half Romain Ntamack and centre Virimi Vakatawa. As expected, Matthieu Jalibert starts in place of Ntamack, lining up alongside electric scrum-half Antoine Dupont.
In midfield, Montpellier’s Arthur Vincent starts beside Gael Fickou. Brice Dulin is named at full-back with Gabin Villiere and Racing star Teddy Thomas on the wings.
It is a familiar French front-row with Cyril Baille named at loosehead, Julien Marchand at hooker and Montpellier’s Mohamed Haouas at tighthead. Bernard Le Roux and Paul Willemse line out in the second-row.
Powerful La Rochelle number eight Gregory Alldritt is fit to start following his pre-tournament injury scare, with Dylan Cretin and Charles Ollivon completing the backrow.
France
15. Brice Dulin
14. Teddy Thomas
13. Arthur Vincent
12. Gael Fickou
11.Gabin Villiere
10. Matthieu Jalibert
9. Antoine Dupont
1. Cyril Baille
2. Julien Marchand
3. Mohamed Haouas
4. Bernard Le Roux
5. Paul Willemse
6. Dylan Cretin
7. Charles Ollivon (capt)
8. Gregory Alldritt
Replacements:
16. Pierre Bourgarit
17. Jean-Baptiste Gros
18. Dorian Aldeghiri
19. Romain Taofifenua
20. Anthony Jeronch
21. Baptiste Serin
22. Louis Carbonel
23. Damian Penaud
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey chat Six Nations and its future, the contractual bottleneck and French interest in Irish stars, Leone Nakarawa’s arrival in Belfast, and the poor standard of officiating in rugby :
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
