{"id":256868,"date":"2026-01-21T22:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/256868\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:25:07","slug":"fabien-galthie-leaves-penaud-alldritt-and-fickou-out-of-six-nations-squad-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/256868\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabien Galthi\u00e9 leaves Penaud, Alldritt and Fickou out of Six Nations squad \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

At face value, the headline-grabbing news that the experienced trio of Damian Penaud (59 caps), Ga\u00ebl Fickou (98 caps) and Gr\u00e9gory Alldritt (58 caps) have all been guillotined from the 42-man French training squad ahead of the Six Nations<\/a> is somehow, well, very French.<\/p>\n

It is certainly very Fabien Galthi\u00e9 and sends out a clear message to that trio and the rest of the squad as to who is the boss and that no places are guaranteed. France<\/a> also has enormous depth and with a posse of talented young wingers, centres and backrowers, this squad announcement may also mark a watershed moment for Les Bleus in this World Cup cycle.<\/p>\n

Yet even the Midi Olympique website described this selection as \u2018une bombe\u2019. Penaud established a new French try-scoring record (40) last November, eclipsing the legendary Serge Blanco on 38. But he had been dropped by Galthi\u00e9 during last year\u2019s Six Nations after a poor performance against England, after which the two had a tete-a-tete, the coach outlining his concerns about the winger\u2019s work-rate, especially in defence. <\/p>\n

Alldritt had also been left in the stands when France played South Africa last November before being recalled, whereas Fickou has long been the defensive leader of the side and had been expected to reach 100 caps in this championship.<\/p>\n

Among the dozen uncapped players whom Galthi\u00e9 has named are nine backs, These include centres such as Kalvin Gourges, who has had a breakout season with Toulouse and made an eye-catching Test debut last November against Australia, and the uncapped due of Fabien Brau-Boirie, a 20-year-old playmaker with Pau and the Stade Fran\u00e7ais centre Noah Nene, a physically imposing player with a big left boot.<\/p>\n

Instead of Penaud, the twice capped Th\u00e9o Attissogbe and the uncapped trio of Toulon\u2019s Ga\u00ebl Dr\u00e9an and two Pau speedsters in Aaron Grandidier, an English-born Olympic Sevens gold medallist, and Gr\u00e9goire Arfeuil \u2013 10 tries in 13 games this season \u2013 have been preferred.<\/p>\n

Alldritt had been a pillar of the French team under Galthi\u00e9, who turned to the La Rochelle number eight as captain in last season\u2019s Six Nations in the absence of Charles Ollivon, who is now fit and back to his best.<\/p>\n

Now Alldritt misses out to, among others, the uncapped Bordeaux B\u00e8gles backrower Temo Matiu, a powerful ball-carrier with a basketball background, and Montpellier\u2019s Lenni Nouchi, who has been capped three times.<\/p>\n

With hooker Pierre-Louis Barassi (concussion) and halfbacks Maxime Lucu (thigh) and Romain Ntamack (kidney) all injured, the debate will rage as to whether Galthi\u00e9 opts for the brilliant, in-form Bordeaux B\u00e8gles outhalf Matthieu Jalibert or Toulouse\u2019s Thomas Ramos to start at 10 against Ireland.<\/p>\n

France squad<\/p>\n

Back three: Gregoire Arfeuil (Pau), Theo Attissogbe (Pau), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Romain Buros (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Gael Drean (Toulon), Aaron Grandidier Nkanang (Pau), Thomas Ramos (Toulouse).<\/p>\n

Centres: Fabien Brau-Boirie (Pau), Nicolas Depoortere (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Kalvin Gourgues (Toulouse), Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Noah Nene (Stade Francais).<\/p>\n

Outhalves: Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Ugo Seunes (Racing 92).<\/p>\n

Scrumhalves: Thibault Daubagna (Pau), Antoine Dupont (Toulouse), Baptiste Serin (Toulon).<\/p>\n

Props: Dorian Aldegheri (Toulouse), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), Cyrill Baille (Toulouse), Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon), Regis Montagne (Clermont Auvergne), Rodrigue Neti (Toulouse), Dany Priso (Toulon), Tevita Tatafu (Bayonne).<\/p>\n

Hookers: Maxime Lamothe (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Julian Marchant (Toulouse), Peato Mauvaka (Toulouse).<\/p>\n

Locks: Hugo Auradou (Pau), Thibaud Flament (Toulouse), Emmanuel Meafou (Toulouse), Lenni Nouchi (Montpellier), Tom Staniforth (Castres).<\/p>\n

Backrowers: Paul Boudehent (La Rochelle), Francois Cros (Toulouse), Alexandre Fischer (Bayonne), Mickael Guillard (Lyon), Oscar Jegou (La Rochelle), Anthony Jelonch (Toulouse), Temo Matiu (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles), Charles Ollivon (Toulon), Cameron Woki (Bordeaux B\u00e8gles).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At face value, the headline-grabbing news that the experienced trio of Damian Penaud (59 caps), Ga\u00ebl Fickou (98…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1452,61,60,15551,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-256868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-france-rugby","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-six-nations","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}