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France change five for their Six Nations opener with Wales

France coach Fabien Galthie (second right) at a training session during a training session in Marcoussis last Sunday (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Fabien Galthie has named his France team to host Wales in this Friday’s Guinness Six Nations opener in Paris, confirming an XV showing five changes from the November win over Argentina.

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Les Bleus closed off their unbeaten Autumn Nations Series with a commanding 37-23 victory over the Pumas and they now return to action 10 weeks later with a side containing three alterations in the backs and two more in the pack.

The recall of Romain Ntamack at out-half sees Thomas Ramos revert to full-back with the injured Leo Barre missing out. Pierre-Louis Barassi is back from the wilderness for a rare Test start at midfield in place of the unavailable Gael Fickou, while rookie Theo Attissogbe is named on the wing in place of Gabin Villiere.

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Antoine Dupont speaks at the official Men’s Six Nations launch

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Antoine Dupont speaks at the official Men’s Six Nations launch

France star Antoine Dupont spoke to the media at the official Guinness Men’s Six Nations launch event in Rome and at the Colosseum.

In the forwards, lock Alexandre Roumat, who was a sub the last day, and No8 Gregory Alldritt come in for the injured duo of Thibaud Flament and Charles Ollivon.

The headline news on a bench that retains its six/two forwards/backs split is the inclusion of Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the pair who were arrested in the aftermath of their July 6 Test debuts against the Pumas in Mendoza.

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Both became available for international selection with their country for the Six Nations after the alleged rape case against them was dismissed.

Auradou fills the spot vacated by the promoted Roumat while Jegou takes over from Marko Gazzotti on a bench showing three changes in total from last November. Cyril Baille is the loosehead prop cover on this occasion instead of Reda Wardi.

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2 Comments
f
fl 18 days ago

reckon france might win this one!

j
jZ 18 days ago

I like it

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J
JW 4 hours ago
France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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