France change two for England as Ntamack ban forces Galthie into fly-half decision

France have made two changes to their squad for ‘Le Crunch’ against England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday from the side that breezed past Wales 43-0 in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations.

One change is forced, as Matthieu Jalibert returns to the Test set-up following Romain Ntamack’s suspension for the red card he received against Wales.

The second change sees Damian Penaud recover from the muscle injury that ruled him out of round one to return to the right wing. He will replace 20-year-old Théo Attissogbé, who can consider himself unlucky after bagging two tries against Warren Gatland’s side.

The bench will remain the same, with Fabien Galthie opting for a 6-2 split again.

Fixture

Six Nations

England

26 - 25

Full-time

France

All Stats and Data

Ever since referee Paul Williams brandished the red card in Ntamack’s direction at the Stade de France, there had been debates over who would occupy the French No.10 jersey.

Full-back Thomas Ramos was one contender to move to fly-half having operated there during Les Bleus’ Autumn Nations Series campaign while Ntamack was out injured. Another slightly more experimental option was to shift talisman Antoine Dupont across the backline and move Nolann Le Garrec into scrum-half.

Galthie has instead opted for Bordeaux-Begles star Jalibert despite the 26-year-old’s relationship with the coach appearing strained in the autumn after he withdrew from the squad in response to not being selected to face the All Blacks.

France XV
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
2 Peato Mauvaka
3 Uini Atonio
4 Alexandre Roumat
5 Emmanuel Meafou
6 Francois Cros
7 Paul Boudehent
8 Gregory Alldritt
9 Antoine Dupont
10 Matthieu Jalibert
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey
12 Yoram Moefana
13 Pierre-Louis Barassi
14 Damian Penaud
15 Thomas Ramos

Substitutes
16 Julien Marchand
17 Cyril Baille
18 Georges-Henri Colombe
19 Hugo Auradou
20 Mickael Guillard
21 Oscar Jegou
22 Nolann Le Garrec
23 Emilien Gailleton