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Ten players withdrawn from France's Six Nations squad

PARIS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 20: Antoine Dupont of France makes a break during the Autumn Nations Series match between France and New Zealand at the Stade de France on November 20, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

France have been hit by significant disruption ahead of the Guinness Six Nations, after being forced to withdraw ten players from their 42-man squad, which is preparing for the tournament in Aubagne this week.

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Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont, François Cros, Gaëtan Barlot, Anthony Jelonch, Cyril Baille, and Bernard Le Roux have all been removed due to positive Covid-19 results.

23-year-old La Rochelle hooker Pierre Bourgarit has also been removed with the viral infection although reports in France say he is also injured. He is replaced in the squad by Teddy Babigny. The Racing 92 frontrower has one international cap to his name and joins Fabien Galthie’s training squad.

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Mike Prendergast on Finn Russell

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Mike Prendergast on Finn Russell

Added to this, back row Cameron Woki and giant tighthead Uini Atonio have also been removed due to injury.

Swan Rebbadj, Dorian Aldegheri, Louis Carbonel, Léo Coly, Paul Boudehent, Yacouba Camara, Jérôme Rey and Thomas Lavault have been drafted in as replacements.

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UPDATED FRENCH SQUAD:

FORWARDS:
Dorian Aldegheri (Stade Toulousain)
Gregory Alldritt (Stade Rochelais)
Demba Bamba(LOU Rugby)
Teddy Baubigny (Racing 92)
Daniel Bibi Biziwu (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Paul Boudehent(Rochelais Stadium)
Yacouba Camara (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Dylan Cretin(LOU Rugby)
Ibrahim Diallo (Racing 92)
Thibaud Flament (Stade Toulousain)
Jean-baptiste Gros (RC Toulon)
Mohamed Haouas (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Thomas Lavault (Rochelais Stadium)
Sekou Macalou (French Stadium Paris)
Julien Marchand (Stade Toulousain)
Peato Mauvaka (Stade Toulousain)
Swan Rebbadj(RC Toulon)
Jérôme Rey(LOU Rugby)
Yoan Tanga (Racing 92)
Romain Taofifenua (LOU Rugby)
Florent Vanverberghe (Castres Olympique)
Florian Verhaeghe (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Paul Willemse (Montpellier Herault Rugby)

BACKS:
Léo Berdeu (LOU Rugby)
Louis Carbonel (RC Toulon)
Leo Coly (Montois Rugby Stadium)
Baptiste Couilloud (LOU Rugby)
Jonathan Danty (Stade Rochelais)
Brice Dulin (Rochelais Stadium)
Jules Favre (Rochelais Stadium)
Gaël Fickou (Racing 92)
Antoine Hastoy (Pau Section)
Melvyn Jaminet (USA Perpignan)
Matthis Lebel (Stade Toulousain)
Maxime Lucu (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
Yoram Moefana (Union Bordeaux Begles)
Damian Penaud (Asm Clermont Auvergne)
Thomas Ramos (Toulouse Stadium)
Teddy Thomas (Racing 92)
Tanu Vili (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Gabin Villiere (RC Toulon)

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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