Bastareaud axed as France name team for Wales

Uncapped teenager Romain Ntamack has been preferred to the axed Mathieu Bastareaud in the France team for the Six Nations opener against Wales on Friday.
Centre Bastareaud - who captained France last year - not only misses out on a place in the starting line-up, but he will not be on the bench at Stade de France either.
Coach Jacques Brunel has put his faith in the 19-year-old Ntamack, whose father, Emile, won 46 caps for Les Bleus, to take on Warren Gatland's side after some eye-catching displays for Toulouse and France Under-20s.
Ntamack - the youngest player in any of this year's Six Nations squads - will be paired with Wesley Fofana, while South African-born lock Paul Willemse will also make his debut in Paris.
Brunel has reunited experienced scrum-half Morgan Parra and fly-half Camille Lopez for the start of the tournament.
Promising pop Demba Bamba, who made his international bow against Fiji last November, has only been named among the replacements.
France: Maxime Medard, Damian Penaud, Wesley Fofana, Romain Ntamack, Yoann Huget, Camille Lopez, Morgan Parra; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Paul Willemse, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: Julien Marchand, Dany Priso, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Gregory Alldritt, Baptiste Serin, Gaël Fickou, Geoffrey Doumayrou.
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I emailed Roy and HG some suggestions recently and they took the p*** out of me on air for being a rugby fan rather than a fan of “the greatest game of all”. Very proud moment.
Go to commentsI will reserve judgement until after Crusaders match with the Drua in Lautoka. Playing there is an acid test for any team as Drua are notoriously hard to beat there for anyone. A good win there will go a long way to restoring their reputation. Seems this years Crusaders run hot and cold so they really need consistency especially on defence as they concede too many points and penalties at times
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