New faces:
Where to start, there are 12 uncapped players in the wider French squad, three forwards and nine backs … count them … nine! Kalvin Gourgues is a 20-year-old from Stade Toulousain, who is comfortable at 10/12 or 15 (France’s answer to Tom Jordan) and one to watch, while high-flying Pau provide four newbies: Fabien Brau-Boirie (another 20-year-old centre), Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang (London born Olympic gold medal in Sevens winning speedster), Grégoire Arfeuil (winger) and veteran scrummy Thibault Daubagna, who is very much third choice behind Dupont and Baptiste Serin. Meanwhile, Thomas Staniforth is an Aussie lock who could replace Thibaud Flament in the opening game? How many of the 12 new faces get any game time is doubtful but Galthie is certainly shaking things up, with experienced trio Damian Penaud, Gregory Alldritt and Gael Fickou surprise omissions from this squad.
Old faces:
The giant 35-year-old prop Uini Atonio was rushed to hospital following a heart attack last week. We wish him well.
A problem position for the right reasons:
The French midfield has a multitude of possibilities and while you suspect that Matthieu Jalibert and Yoram Moefana are pencilled in at 10/12, who replaces discarded defensive captain Fickou is hotly debated. Our best guess is Nicolas Depoortère, if only because it keeps France’s midfield a Bordeaux-Begles affair with Jalibert, the best fly-half in France, finally getting some well deserved time in the saddle with Romain Ntamack injured.
And the other:
I don’t doubt that Galthie did a deep dive into the data before sacking his rumbustious No8 Alldritt but his likely replacements of Anthony Jelonch, Paul Boudehent and Oscar Jégou are all more generic breakaways rather than pure, ball-carrying animals like Alldritt. The Stade Rochelais man has plenty of miles on the clock but he usually ups his game for the big occasion and France may yet miss his go-go-go-forward unless Galthie hands uncapped Temo Matiu, another Bordeaux boy and a genuine carrier, the No 8 shirt!?
We would like to see:
Penaud back in the French backs. No, we don’t care that he doesn’t chase kicks or catch high balls, sometimes he doesn’t even pretend to try. But we love to see the freewheeling winger bamboozle the opposition every which way but Sunday with the ball in hand.
What France needs to do:
The truth is that Galthie is prepping for RWC’27 and while the upcoming results are important, so too is giving Alldritt, still only 28, a kick in the backside and the same with Penaud. Fickou is stuck on 98 caps. He has been magnificent for France but does he offer enough in attack? Galthie is desperately playing catch-up with world leaders South Africa so he needs threats across the backline and ball carrying brutes up front … and he only has 20 odd months left to find them.
Finish:
Anything other than first would be a disappointment with England and Ireland both travelling to Paris.