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Bastareaud named in 32 man France squad

Toulon captain Mathieu Bastareaud

Mathieu Bastareaud has been included in the France Six Nations squad a matter of hours before getting a 3 week ban over an alleged homophobic slur.

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Bastareaud was banned for three weeks after appearing to call Benetton Treviso lock Sebastian Negri a “f*****g f*****t” during Toulon’s European Champions Cup win on Sunday.

The centre, recalled by Les Bleus to face New Zealand last November following a two-year absence, was included in a list of 32 named by Jacques Brunel on Wednesday.

Montpellier back Benjamin Fall also gets the nod, five years after earning the last of his six caps against England at Twickenham, and scrum-half Morgan Parra comes back into the fold.

Brunel has included six uncapped players, teenage fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, back-row Marco Tauleigne and full-back Geoffrey Palis getting the call from the recently appointed head coach.

Second row Felix Lambey has also been selected, along with props Dany Priso and Cedate Gomes Sa.

Yacouba Camara, Arthur Iturria, Remi Lamerat and Virimi Vakatawa come back into the squad after missing the November Tests.

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France start the tournament with a clash against Ireland at Stade de France on February 3.

France Six Nations squad: 

Forwards:  Eddy Ben Arous, Yacouba Camara, Camille Chat, Paul Gabrillagues, Cedate Gomes Sa, Kevin Gourdon, Guilhem Guirado, Arthur Iturria, Anthony Jelonch, Felix Lambey, Wenceslas Lauret, Sekou Macalou, Jefferson Poirot, Dany Priso, Rabah Slimani, Marco Tauleigne, Christopher Tolofua, Sebastien Vahaamahina, 

Backs: Mathieu Bastareaud, Anthony Belleau, Henry Chavancy, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Brice Dulin, Antoine Dupont, Benjamin Fall, Matthieu Jalibert, Remi Lamerat, Maxime Machenaud, Geoffrey Palis, Morgan Parra, Teddy Thomas, Virimi Vakatawa.

 

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IkeaBoy 14 minutes ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Very, very thoughtful piece!


It’s far too much rugby for players as it stands and the new competitions - club world cup and Nations cup - are proposed on the basis it’s the best players competing who will usually be established test players.


An established NH test player is in pre-season from August (at the latest) then going thorough until the following July. They likely will have carried niggles and some injuries into their pre-season. They would then have between 22-30 domestic games if their teams went far and contested finals in say the URC and CC. Although many would have stand down periods, they would still train and be squad ready for all of those games.


Their test commitments across that same time would be 3/4 games (Nov series) then 5 games (6 Nations) with a rest for the July development tours. That rest would only now be once every 4 years with the Lions, Nations Cup and RWC warm-ups occupying the July window.


A squad player at club level would potentially have a full run of games in any given season but run a greater risk of injury the more often they play. They would likely know that form alone wouldn’t get them to the next level and into a national squad. It would be their bodies and their ability to recover quickly and deal with elite level competition. They wouldn’t have the baseline of having played an 11 month season so how could they upsurge a 40 cap player?


I think there will be a huge divide before long between solid club players, who are basically salary men, and the ringfenced test animals who will likely dwindle in numbers as their playing demands increase.

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