France team v England: Winners and losers as ‘outrageous talent’ mends fences with Fabien Galthie to replace Romain Ntamack while ‘world’s best’ returns
Following the announcement of Fabien Galthie's team, here are our winners and losers.
Following the announcement of Fabien Galthie’s France team to face England at the Allianz Stadium, here’s our winners and losers from the selection.
Galthie has been forced to make a change at fly-half following Romain Ntamack’s suspension while he has been boosted for Le Crunch by the return of key players from injury.
Winners
Matthieu Jalibert
Fences have clearly been mended as outrageous talent Matthieu Jalibert returns straight back into the starting XV having last featured for Les Bleus off the bench against Japan in November.
Galthie opted to back Thomas Ramos at fly-half in the absence of Ntamack for the autumn clash against the All Blacks and Jalibert duly requested that he not be named on France’s bench, packed his bags and went home.
His decision caused a real stir in France and sparked rumours of a rift between the playmaker and the head coach.
Galthie wouldn’t have been overly pleased with the decision as Jalibert revealed some details of the discussion.
“I expressed things to Fabien (Galthié) about a certain malaise that I had and he offered me to take a break and return to Bordeaux, which I accepted,” Jalibert said last December.
“I haven’t distanced myself from the French team, however, and if they call on me, I’ll take it with the greatest pleasure.
The Bordeaux star has now got that call and will be hellbent on making the most of it with Ntamack set to return later in the competition. There is an opportunity for him to make a mighty claim for the starting role and there are few better places to do it than at Twickenham.
Paul Boudehent and Damian Penaud
Reports earlier in the week raised doubts about the fitness of flanker Paul Boudehent and winger Damian Penaud, who both sat out of training.
However, the rest did the pair good as Galthie has deemed that they are both fit and firing to star in Le Crunch.
Boudehent was in unreal form against Wales in round one, hitting an unbelievable 35 attacking rucks with an even more impressive 91.4% effectiveness, according to Opta Stats. Only Maro Itoje (36) hit more attacking rucks than the La Rochelle star while only Francois Cros (31 at 80.6%) and Dafydd Jenkins (33 at 81.8%) boasted an effectiveness rate of more than 80% while hitting at least 30 rucks.
With Charles Ollivon and Anthony Jelonch injured, Boudehent is an enormous fitness boost for France particularly in his ability to dominate the attack breakdowns and do so relentlessly.
Speaking of the French attack, Penaud adds another lethal weapon to an already powerful armoury. The Bordeaux man has been in mind-blowing form having scored six tries in his last appearance for his club against the Sharks in the Investec Champions Cup.
That double hat-trick against the Sharks took his Champions Cup try tally to 10 while he also boasts an impressive 11 try involvements in the Top 14.
Penaud is one of the best wingers in world rugby and on form right now, there is probably none better. With England dealing with somewhat of an injury crisis on the left, the French star will be licking his lips.
Pierre-Louis Barassi
One man’s loss is another man’s gain and that is absolutely true in the case of Pierre-Louis Barassi, who has stepped up in Gael Fickou’s absence.
Barassi’s international ambitions have been harshly impacted with his own injuries which limited him to just the single Test cap before this Six Nations. After sterling form with Toulouse, he was a clear choice for the number 13 jumper in Galthie’s eyes and against Wales he more than lay down a marker in the role.
Now, he gets a third cap in the clash against England and another brilliant outing could well see him hold onto the jersey even when Fickou returns from his setback later in the Championship.
Nolann Le Garrec
Reports swirled this week that Racing 92 star Nolann Le Garrec would drop out of the matchday 23 despite a strong 30-minute cameo in the opening game of the Six Nations.
Maxime Lucu was tipped by the media to replace the 22-year-old but ultimately, Le Garrec has proven the rumours to be incorrect.
Georges-Henri Colombe
It was reported that fit-again Tevita Tatafu would also be thrown right back into the mix for France, taking up a place on the bench.
However, Georges-Henri Colombe has seemingly done enough to retain the impact role off the bench.
Fabien Galthie
An embarrassment of riches barely begins to describe the playing squad that Galthie has at his disposal. After losing the services of Ntamack to suspension, he simply brings in another world-class talent that would start for most of the top international teams.
He also drops a rising star who scored a brace in his Six Nations debut and replaces him with a man who was the top try scorer in the 2023 Championship and topped the assists in the tournament last year.
Nevermind the aforementioned replacement for the brilliance of Ollivon and Jelonch.
Losers
Romain Ntamack
A moment of sheer stupidity has cost Ntamack back-to-back starts for France after such a long time out through injury and it could still have dire impact on France’s chances of lifting the Six Nations title on Super Saturday.
It was a reckless and lazy tackle by the fly-half with Sam Warburton believing that it was a ‘revenge mission’. Regardless of whether that is true or not, Ntamack’s actions have had personal consequences as he misses this match at the very least but may have a broader impact on the tournament.
Jalibert is a more than capable replacement but there is a nigh-on telepathic understanding between Antoine Dupont and Ntamack that just cannot be replicated.
England have struggled against Tier One opposition recently and they will see this weekend as an opportunity to turn things around.
Maxime Lucu
After some impressive stints off the bench for France in recent seasons, Lucu is overlooked once again. Despite Dupont being the clear best option at scrum-half, France have insane depth at number nine highlighted by the quality of the trio in the squad and the plethora of players who have been excluded.
Unfortunately for Lucu, Galthie can only pick two in his team and this week, he misses out again despite reports suggesting otherwise.
Joshua Brennan
A starting Test debut was on the cards for Joshua Brennan according to reports on how France lined up in training with Boudehent rested, but it was not to be for the son of the ex-Ireland lock Trevor Brennan.
Lock is another position where France are bursting at the seams but Brennan is in a good place in the pecking order and may well get his shot this Six Nations still, particularly with the continued backing of the 6-2 split on the bench.
Tevita Tatafu
After being the go-to back-up tighthead last November, injury has denied Bayonne’s Tatafu the opportunity to continue cement his place in the squad.
He misses out again this weekend despite being fit to go. He will surely get another chance in 2025.
Théo Attissogbe
One cannot help but feel for 20-year-old winger Théo Attissogbe who really could not have done more against Wales in round one.
He crossed for two tries on Six Nations debut and shone against Japan last November.
The sad reality is that he was always going to fall out of the team when Penaud was fit again with Louis Bielle-Biarrey shining on the wing too.
England
The task at hand for Steve Borthwick’s men was always going to be a mighty one and it’s only got more challenging with the return to fitness of Penaud in particular.
England simply haven’t been able to close out games against fellow Tier One teams and on paper, it won’t be getting any easier as France are stacked with classy players from one to 23.
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