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Six Nations: Fabien Galthie has named the France team to play Italy

(Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Fabien Galthie has named his France team to take on Italy in this Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations in Rome, an XV that shows five changes from the side that defeated Japan 35-17 in their final Autumn Nations Series match in November.

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That victory rounded off an impeccable year for the French, who went their entire 2022 campaign unbeaten with a Six Nations Grand Slam title, a tour series success in Japan and three more wins on the bounce in the autumn.

Gathie has now declared his hand for the opening France match of the Six Nations title retention bid and the big development is the inclusion of the uncapped Ethan Dumortier, the 22-year-old Lyon player, on the left wing.

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Steve Borthwick responds to reporter on why he didn’t start Manu Tuilagi

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Steve Borthwick responds to reporter on why he didn’t start Manu Tuilagi

There were hopes at the start of the week that Gabin Villiere, a try-scoring star in last year’s gallop to the title, could be included as he played his first match last weekend for Toulon in quite some time. However, his ankle caused him trouble again in the following days and that paved the way for Galthie to back Dumortier for his first Test cap.

The rookie takes over the No11 jersey worn against Japan by Yoram Moefana, who now switches to inside centre to fill the vacancy left by the injury to Jonathan Danty. The other backline change sees skipper Antoine Dupont return as the starting No9. He missed the Japan match following his red card against South Africa, with the now-injured Maxime Lucu filling in on that occasion.

In the pack, Cyril Baille returns at loosehead for the bench Reda Wardi, Thibaud Flament starts at lock for the injured Cameron Woki while Paul Willemse is also in at second row with Romain Taofifenua slipping to the bench.

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France (vs Italy, Sunday)
15. Ramos; 14. Penaud, 13. Fickou, 12. Moefana, 11, Dumortier; 10. Ntamack, 9. Dupont; 1, Baille, 2. Marchand, 3. Atonio, 4. Flament, 5. Willemse, 6. Jelonch, 7. Ollovon, 8. Alldritt. Reps: 16: Barlot, 17. Wardi, 18. Falatea, 19. R Taofifenua, 20. Lavault, 21. Macalou, 22. Le Gerrec, 23. Jalibert.

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J
JW 12 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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