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France name team for Fiji
By Alex Fisher
Benjamin Fall and Rabah Slimani have been recalled to France's starting XV for this weekend's clash with Fiji in Paris.
France ended their five-game losing run against Argentina last weekend and the majority of that team retain their places in Jacques Brunel's side.
Two-try hero Teddy Thomas starts on the right wing, while scrum-half Baptiste Serin will look to repeat his accuracy from the tee after kicking 13 points against the Pumas.
Fall comes into the backline in place of Maxime Medard, while Slimani – who wins his 50th cap – slots in at tighthead prop alongside captain Guilhem Guirado and Jefferson Poirot.
Brunel also makes changes in the replacements with Julien Marchard and Demba Bamba set to make their Test debuts, the duo joined by Felix Lambey, Kelian Galletier and Geoffrey Doumayrou on the bench.
France: Benjamin Fall, Teddy Thomas, Mathieu Bastareaud, Gael Fickou, Yoann Huget, Camille Lopez, Baptiste Serin; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado, Rabah Slimani, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Yoan Maestri, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles
Replacements: Julien Marchand, Dany Priso, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Kelian Galletier, Antoine Dupont, Anthony Belleau, Geoffrey Doumayrou
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Latest Comments
I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.
I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.
We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.
I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.
Go to commentsGreat but players do play like Oz too BS!!
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