FRANCE COACH FABIEN Galthié named 19 uncapped players in his initial squad for the summer tour to South America on Monday.

Antoine Frisch has been included ahead of his summer move from Munster to Toulon. Frisch spent two seasons with Munster but recently declared his intention to play for France at international level. The 28-year-old centre was born in France but qualifies to play for Ireland through his grandmother and was part of the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa in 2022.

However he never received a call-up to Andy Farrell’s senior squad and could become a France international next month.

Galthié’s squad includes many from the France team that won the U20 World Cup last year, including Pau’s 19-year-old wing Theo Attissogbe, Montpellier’s 20-year-old flanker, and occasional captain this season, Lenni Nouchi and prop forward Regis Montagne from ProD2 side Grenoble.

Scrum-half Baptiste Serin, whose Toulon side were beaten by La Rochelle on Saturday, is by some way the most experienced player on the list with 44 international caps.

There is room also for his Toulon teammate Melvyn Jaminet, Montpellier centre Arthur Vincent, Lyon scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud and prop Demba Bamba, each of whom has significant Test experience.

No players from Toulouse, La Rochelle, Stade Francais and Bordeaux-Begles have been selected as they are still in Top 14 contention but Galthie will add another 10 players on Sunday after the semi-finals are settled.

France will play two Test against Argentina on 6 and 13 July with a Test against Uruguay sandwiched between them on 10 July.

France squad:

Forwards:

Hugo Auradou (Pau)
Demba Bamba (Lyon)
Gaetan Barlot (Castre)
Teddy Baubigny (Toulon)
Giorgi Beria (Clermont)
Ibrahim Diallo (Racing 92)
Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon)
Mickael Guillard (Lyon)
Jordan Joseph (Racing)
Thomas Laclayat (Racing)
Regis Montagne (Grenoble)
Lenni Nouchi (Montpellier) 
Matis Perchaud (Bayonne)
Yann Peysson (Castres)
Janick Tarrit (Racing 92)
Tevita Tatafu (Bayonne)
Killian Tixeront (Clermont)
Posolo Tuilagi (Perpignan)
Florent Vanverberghe (Castres)

Backs:

Theo Attissogbe (Pau)
Leo Berdeu (Lyon)
Louis Carbonel (Montpellier)
Baptiste Couilloud (Lyon)
Leon Darricarrere (Clermont)
Antoine Frisch (Munster)
Emilien Gailleton (Pau)
Nathanael Hulleu (Castres)
Melvyn Jaminet (Toulon)
Baptiste Jauneau (Clermont)
Joris Jurand (Clermont)
Baptiste Serin (Toulon)
Arthur Vincent (Montpellier)

– © AFP 2024