{"id":483780,"date":"2026-02-16T14:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/483780\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:01:08","slug":"france-announce-two-squad-changes-for-italy-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/483780\/","title":{"rendered":"France announce two squad changes for Italy clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leinster<\/a> prop Ribah Slimani has been called into the France<\/a> squad as the unbeaten Guinness Men\u2019s Six Nations<\/a> leaders prepare to tackle Italy<\/a> in Lille next Sunday.<\/p>\n

Slimani, 36, has been drafted in as a replacement for Bayonne<\/a> prop, Tevita Tatafu<\/a>, having missed the first two rounds, as well as the entire November programme.<\/p>\n

The 123kg powerhouse won the last of his 59 caps on last summer\u2019s tour to New Zealand, which France lost 3-0, and is rumoured to be on his way back to France at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Last month, Midi Olympique reported that Toulon<\/a> had snapped up the veteran tight-head on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n

Joining Slimani in the Les Bleus\u2019 squad is Racing 92\u2019s uncapped fly-half Ugo Seunes<\/a>, who has kicked over 100 points in his first season in the Top 14, having joined from Pro D2<\/a> outfit, Aurillac.<\/p>\n

Seunes, 25, takes the place of injured Bordeaux-Begles centre Yoram Moefana.<\/p>\n

Updated France squad:<\/p>\n

Forwards<\/p>\n

Dorian ALDEGHERI (Stade Toulousai)
Hugo AURADOU (Section Paloise)
Cyril BAILLE (Stade Toulousain)
Paul BOUDEHENT (Stade Rochelais)
Joshua BRENNAN (Stade Toulousain)
Georges-Henri COLOMBE (Stade Toulousain)
Fran\u00e7ois CROS (Stade Toulousain)
Thibaud FLAMENT (Stade Toulousain)
Jean-Baptiste GROS (RC Toulon)
Micka\u00ebl GUILLARD (Lyon<\/a> OU Rugby)
Oscar JEGOU (Stade Rochelais)
Anthony JELONCH (Stade Toulousain)
Maxime LAMOTHE (Union Bordeaux<\/a> B\u00e8gles)
Julien MARCHAND (Stade Toulousain)
Temo MATIU (Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles)
Peato MAUVAKA (Stade Toulousain)
Emmanuel MEAFOU (Stade Toulousain)
R\u00e9gis MONTAGNE (ASM Clermont)
Rodrigue NETI (Stade Toulousain)
Lenni NOUCHI (Montpellier<\/a> HR)
Charles OLLIVON (RC Toulon)
Rabah SLIMANI (Leinster Rugby)
Thomas STANIFORTH (Castres<\/a> Olympique)
Sacha ZEGUEUR (Section Paloise)<\/p>\n

Backs<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e9goire ARFEUIL (Section Paloise)
Th\u00e9o ATTISSOGBE (Section Paloise)
Pierre-Louis BARASSI (Stade Toulousain)
L\u00e9o BARR\u00c9 (Stade Fran\u00e7ais)
Louis BIELLE-BIARREY (Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles)
Fabien BRAU-BOIRIE (Pau<\/a> Section)
Thibault DAUBAGNA (Pau Section)
Axel DESPERES (Section Paloise)
Ga\u00ebl DR\u00c9AN (RC Toulon)
Antoine DUPONT (Stade Toulousain)
\u00c9milien GAILLETON (Section Paloise)
Kalvin GOURGUES (Stade Toulousain)
Matthieu JALIBERT (Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles)
Noah NENE (Stade Fran\u00e7ais Paris)
Thomas RAMOS (Stade Toulousain)
Baptiste SERIN (RC Toulon)
Ugo SEUNES (Racing 92)
Gabin VILLI\u00c8RE (RC Toulon)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leinster prop Ribah Slimani has been called into the France squad as the unbeaten Guinness Men\u2019s Six Nations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-483780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}