FRANCE COACH FABIEN Galthié has announced an unchanged side to face England in a potential Six Nations decider this weekend.
Galthié kept faith with his squad from last week’s 45-24 win over Wales for the home match in Lyon against Steve Borthwick’s England on Saturday [KO 8pm, RTÉ].
Grégory Alldritt captains the side with Léo Barré, Nicolas Depoortère, Emmanuel Meafou and Georges-Henri Colombe keeping their places after making their debuts in Cardiff.
It is the first time Galthié has kept a same starting lineup from one match to another since last February.
He had made eight changes before the win over Wales after a drab draw with Italy previously.
“It’s ideal to be able to keep the same team. The team won, put in a great performance last weekend,” Galthié told reporters.
“The team had changed a lot. It’s what we had felt for a while.
“We chose to do things with consistency, we preferred to see what happened on the field, feel energy and react.”
Nolann Le Garrec remains at scrum-half after his player of the match performance with Maxime Lucu on bench despite scoring a try in the Millenium Stadium win.
Regular scrum-half and captain Antoine Dupont remains unavailable as he prepares to play Sevens at this year’s Paris Olympic Games.
England can win the Six Nations with a bonus-point victory in Lyon if table-topping Ireland lose to Scotland earlier in the day without a bonus point.
France also have a chance of lifting the title, if they beat England with a bonus point, Ireland suffer defeat without a bonus point and there is a significant points difference swing in Les Bleus’ advantage.
Meanwhile, powerful lock Posolo Tuilagi has made a surprise return to the France U20s for their clash with the England U20s.
Tuilagi’s father is former Samoa international and Perpignan player Henry Tuilagi, and the 150kg second row is also the nephew of former Samoa internationals Freddie, Alesana, Anitelea and Sanele Vavae Tuilagi, and England international Manu Tuilagi.
The 19-year-old has been part of the senior France squad during the Six Nations, coming off the bench to win his first Test cap in the opening round defeat to Ireland.
Tuilagi also came off the bench in the second round win over Scotland before starting the third round draw with Italy.
However the Perpignan player returns to U20s duty this weekend and will start for France as they welcome England to Pau tomorrow.
The Ireland U20s currently lie second in the table, trailing England by a point ahead of Friday night’s decisive final round of matches, as Richie Murphy’s side chase a third successive U20s Six Nations title.
The England U20s top the table with 18 points, with France in third place on 13 points. Ireland are second on 17 points and host Scotland in Cork at 7pm tomorrow.
France (v England):
- 15. Léo Barré
- 14. Damian Penaud
- 13. Gael Fickou
- 12. Nicolas Depoortère
- 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey
- 10. Thomas Ramos
- 9. Nolann Le Garrec
- 1. Cyril Baille
- 2. Julien Marchand
- 3. Uini Atonio
- 4. Thibaud Flament
- 5. Emmanuel Meafou
- 6. Francois Cros
- 7. Charles Ollivon
- 8. Grégory Alldritt (capt)
Replacements:
- 16. Peato Mauvaka
- 17. Sebastien Taofifenua
- 18. Georges-Henri Colombe
- 19. Romain Taofifenua
- 20. Alexandre Roumat
- 21. Paul Boudehent
- 22. Maxime Lucu
- 23. Yoram Moefana
Additional reporting from Ciarán Kennedy
