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France welcome back 14 players including Dupont, Ntamack and Jalibert
By Ian Cameron
France have welcomed back 14 players to their Guinness Six Nations squad after Covid-19 and various injuries took a toll on their preparations last week.
Fabien Galthie's side will now have a week to prepare in Marcoussis with a full complement of players for their opening game against Italy next Sunday, February 6 in Paris.
It is unclear when or if Galthie's will swing the axe for the players he called up last week to replace the raft of absentees, many of them from Toulouse, who were unable to join the team in Aubagne due to positive tests.
Galthie issued a positive update earlier in the week, saying: "We keep in touch with all the players from afar, of course,” said Galthie. “We have good news concerning the players and their state of health and spirit and all are doing well."
Particularly welcome will be the mercurial Antoine Dupont. The Toulouse nine has not played since December 11 due to a combination of postponements, fatigue and injury.
“I have spoken to him: he is doing well. He resumed training two weeks ago. He wanted to play against Cardiff but the match did not go ahead."
Despite the disruption, Les Bleus are tournament favourites with a number of bookmakers on the back of winning each of their three autumn matches, including beating New Zealand. It was a first victory over the All Blacks on home soil since 2009 and has lifted expectations heading into the tournament.
RETURNING PLAYERS
Uini Atonio (Stade Rochelais, 39 Sélections)
Cyril Baille (Stade Toulousain, 31 Sélections)
Gaëtan Barlot (Castres Olympique, 4 Sélections)
Paul Boudehent (Stade Rochelais, 0 Sélection)
François Cros (Stade Toulousain, 11 Sélections)
Anthony Jelonch (Stade Toulousain, 14 Sélections)
Bernard Le Roux (Racing 92, 47 Sélections)
Antoine Dupont (Stade Toulousain, 35 Sélections)
Jules Favre (Stade Rochelais, 0 Sélection)
Matthieu Jalibert (Union Bordeaux Bègles, 13 Sélections)
Matthis Lebel (Stade Toulousain, 1 Sélection)
Romain Ntamack (Stade Toulousain, 23 Sélections)
Donovan Taofifenua (Racing 92, 0 Sélection)
Tani Vili (Asm Clermont Auvergne, 0 Sélection)
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Latest Comments
Well the other idea I had been toying with which I think is still used in football, is something like each pool winners of the Challenge Cup gets entry into the round of 16 etc (or whateveer equivalnt entry point we can come up with) in the Champions Cup.
Those T2 sides could play a pool or some simple comp with the bottom dwellers (that was actually something else I liked in Jones structure, he left out 2 English sides alltogehter, 4+4-2), and then come into the Challenge Cup when those top4 sides go up?
That idea just helps keep a nice balance for me. I like both comps having exactly the same structure, and raising 4 or so T2 sides requires that to break in some manner.
Neither. You have a situation where like the Stormers lose to la Rochelle in Ro16 but lose out to a lower performing league team in Benneton (5th place v 7th) just because they made it to the semis of Challenge Cup.
Go to commentsWalter has been permanently psychologically damaged since his wife left him and moved in with a man from Sydney.
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