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Antoine Frisch among eight France debutants

Antoine Frisch will make his France debut this weekend, ending any hopes Ireland had of selecting him. (Photo By Eóin Noonan/ Getty Images)

For his 50th Test in charge of France this Saturday, Fabien Galthié has selected an experimental matchday 23 to take on Argentina in Mendoza.

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Galthié, who has an impressive 78% winning record, hands debuts to seven starters with two more players in line to make their senior international bow if they are called upon from the bench.

Antoine Frisch is among those set to win their first caps with the Toulon-bound centre, who has spent the last two years with Munster, named in a midfield with Émilien Gailleton.

French-born Frisch was once coveted by Andy Farrell, as he qualifies for Ireland through an Irish grandmother and toured with Emerging Ireland in 2022.

Gailleton’s Pau team-mate, Théo Attissogbe and fellow wing Lester Etien are the other newcomers to a raw backline, which contains Baptiste Serin as captain and scrum-half.

The Toulon No.9 will lead Les Bleus for the second time in his 45th cap, having only previously worn the armband against Italy in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.

Serin, who turned 30 last month, is accompanied at half-back by Antoine Hastoy.

Fixture
Internationals
Argentina
13 - 28
Full-time
France
All Stats and Data

In the pack, Jonathan Joseph makes his long-awaited debut at number eight.

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The 23-year-old Racing 92 player has been bedevilled by injuries since starring for France in their World Rugby U20 Championship winning campaign in 2018.

Joseph lines up in an all-new back row with fellow uncapped players Lenni Nouchi and Oscar Jegou.

Nouchi, who led France to the World Rugby U20 Championship title last year, was due to start on the bench but has taken his place on the blindside following the late withdrawal of Judicaël Cancoriet.

The third debutant to come from Pau is lock Hugo Auradou, who packs down in the engine room with Baptiste Pesenti.

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Props Jean-Baptiste Gros and Georges-Henri Colombe and hooker Gaëtan Barlot make up the front row.

Lyon forward Mickaël Guillard is the only uncapped player on an otherwise experienced bench.

The France team to play Argentina:

15 Léo Barré; 14 Théo Attissogbe, 13 Émilien Gailleton, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Lester Etien; 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Baptiste Serin; 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Gaëtan Barlot, 3 Georges-Henri Colombe, 4 Hugo Auradou, 5 Baptiste Pesenti, 6 Lenni Nouchi, 7 Oscar Jegou, 8 Jordan Joseph.

Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Sébastien Taofifenua, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Posolo Tuilagi, 20 Mickaël Guillard, 21 Ibrahim Diallo, 22 Baptiste Couilloud, 23 Melvyn Jaminet.

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J
JW 16 minutes ago
Lions tour Aussie takes: The Suaalii decision and the Finn Russell factor

Good reads again John. I feel some moments at still within the team to improve, and hopefully some individuals to shine through. After Super Rugby where we were shown you can’t drop your guard at kick off several times in this series have the Lions caught their opposition out with quick throws and restarts, letting the ball go out in this game was a shocker (though the kick was honesty good enough to find the touch had they been ready). Tate tried to strip the try scored just before the half, where he could easily have just dove over the line with him and that pretty much would have been them going into the half with a 10 point lead or so. And in the last play they just didn’t work hard enough, especially one player, I forget who, when back into the ruck area given the Lions too much space wide.


I feel they also didn’t seem to show the same killer instinct once they were in front, playing it safe on a couple of breaks/momentum carries.


I also don’t really understand why Donaldson on the bench. I would much rather have someone you want on the pitch like Pietsch available in a 6/2 split with Gordon or Wright more than able to cover 10 imo. Tate was wonderful on the wing though. And of course lots more positives also present.


I really enjoyed how they were running onto the ball in close in around the ruck. Wilson was playing a different role I thought, he was more the one out man design for quick ball and he presented it as good as you can get all night. That said, he’s not first choice 8 is he, who is that again? Is Wright still injured? I worry that Joe is keeping him their and its dictating too much of the plan just because he has been given the captaincy role.


Will be interesting to see who he thinks might be work a shot in the first team this week, plenty of options. I watched the first quarter of last weeks midweek game and Tupou certainly wouldn’t be one on that list, might be worth a punt though. Think they have to try and work some plays for Bell too, hes got too much class just to be down on form, give him something to work with and I’m sure he’d be a standout as well.


Also seen enough to know Hunter isn’t suddenly going to turn into a class center, I would definitely stick with Joseph but maybe theres a window to put him onto the wing, despite what I said above, now? I think you also do him a disservice in his defending (like many are), he made the player go outside him. It’s the hardest backline spot, I’d be inclined to use him like a league back row and carry it from 12 more often, if that suits Len better.

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