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France make five changes to XV to face Scotland in Six Nations title decider
By Liam Heagney
France have made five changes to their XV to host Scotland in Paris this Friday in the rescheduled Guinness Six Nations round three game that will decide whether the hosts or the table-topping Wales will be crowned 2021 champions.
The French, who denied the Welsh the Grand Slam with a dramatic match-winning, clock-in-the-red try from Brice Dulin last Saturday, need a four-try bonus-point win and a 21-point margin of victory to become champions for the first time since 2010.
It's a tall order and to aid their efforts, coach Fabien Galthie has changed a third of his starting XV. With Mathieu Jalibert out injured, Romain Ntamack takes over at out-half for a first start in this year's tournament while there is also quite a positional reshuffle further out due to just one change in personnel.
With last weekend’s right wing Teddy Thomas dropping to the bench, Damien Penaud switches from left to right, midfielder Gael Fickou moves from inside centre to left wing while Arthur Vincent comes in from the replacements to start at No12.
The other three changes are all in the pack. With second row Paul Willemse suspended following his red card versus the Welsh, Swan Rebbadj is promoted from the bench where he will combine in the engine room with the called-up Bernard Le Roux. Romain Taofifenua drops to the bench.
Meanwhile, at blindside, Anthony Jelonch takes over from Dylan Creyin who will be a replacement on this occasion. With Ntamack promoted to start at out-half, Anthony Bouthier comes onto the bench where there is a five/three split between forwards and backs.
FRANCE (vs Scotland, Friday)
15. Dulin; 14. Penaud, 13. Vakatawa, 12. Vincent, 11. Fickou; 10. Ntamack, 9. Dupont; 8. Aldritt, 7. Ollivon (capt), 6. Jelonch, 5. Rebbadj, 4. Le Roux, 3. Haouas, 2. Marchand, 1. Baille. Reps: 16. Chat, 17. Gros, 18. Atonio, 19. Taofifenua, 20. Cretin, 21. Serin, 22. Bouthier, 23. Thomas.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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