NEW FRANCE HEAD coach Guy Novés has named his first squad since taking over from Philippe Saint-André last month.
On the back of their disappointing showing at the Rugby World Cup, Novés has omitted Mathieu Bastareaud, Rory Kockott, Noa Nakaitaci and Sebastien Tillous-Borde from the 30-man panel of players, which will assemble for a one-day training camp in Marcoussis on 4 January.
Paul Jedrasiak, Sébastien Bezy, Yacouba Camara, Jonathan Danty and Jefferson Poirot are the five newcomers who have been included in the France squad for the first time, while François Trinh-Duc, Jules Plisson and Hugo Bonneval have been recalled.
The hopes of Bastareaud and others of featuring in the Six Nations are by no means over, of course. France, who begin their campaign at home to Italy on 6 February, will meet for another training camp on 11 January. The squad for that session will be named on 6 January.
France squad: Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92), Sébastien Bezy (Toulouse), Hugo Bonneval (Stade Français), Yacouba Camara (Toulouse), Damien Chouly (Clermont), Jonathan Danty (Stade Français), Alexandre Dumoulin (Racing 92), Benjamin Fall (Montpellier), Gaël Fickou (Toulouse), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Français), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Loann Goujon (Bordeaux-Bègles), Guilhem Guirado (Toulon), Paul Jedrasiak (Clermont), Benjamin Kayser (Clermont), Rémy Lamerat (Castres), Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92), Bernard le Roux (Racing 92), Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Maxime Medard (Toulouse), Morgan Parra (Clermont), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Jules Plisson (Stade Français), Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Bègles), Rabah Slimani (Stade Français), Scott Spedding (Clermont), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Sébastien Vahaamahina (Clermont).
Excellent writeup, he’s had a lot of chaos to deal with at the start of his career, hopefully it will serve him well going forward.
Are these games on RTE?