France rejig backline for Australia amid injuries
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: France coach Fabien Galthie made seven changes to his starting side Thursday for their Nations Championship clash with Australia and a key positional switch with star playmaker Matthieu Jalibert moved to fullback.
The Six Nations champions meet the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, still smarting from an agonising 32-34 loss to New Zealand in Christchurch last week.
Galthie swung the axe and intriguingly moved Bordeaux magician Jalibert into a position he has never played for France before. Romain Ntamack will occupy his flyhalf role instead.
*Also read: Injury carnage as Wallabies make big playmaker change for France Test
But there are injury concerns over Jalibert who missed training sessions this week with a calf niggle.
“He’ll have a full test tomorrow during the captain’s run at the stadium,” Galthie said.
“Then we’ll make the decision based on how he feels.”
Should Jalibert be ruled out, La Rochelle’s Antoine Hastoy would likely start instead.
Five of the seven players brought into the team featured in the Top 14 final between Toulouse and Montpellier late last month including hooker Peato Mauvaka who scored twice.
He is part of a revamped second row with Montpellier’s Florian Verhaeghe and Toulouse giant Emmanuel Meafou.
Montpellier flanker Lenni Nouchi and teammate Ntamack at No.10 were also absent against New Zealand.
Stade Francais prop Moses Alo-Emile and Pau winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang are the others who come in.
France are without record try-scorer Damian Penaud who was injured against New Zealand and has returned home.
France: 15 Matthieu Jalibert, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Fabien Brau Boirie, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang; 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Maxime Lucu (captaing), 8 Marko Gazzotti, 7 Oscar Jegou, 6 Lenni Nouchi, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Florian Verhaeghe; 3 Demba Bamba, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Moses Alo-Emile
Replacements: 16 Maxime Lamothe, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Tevita Tatafu, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Killian Tixeront, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Kalvin Gourgues.
Date: Saturday, July 11
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 17.40 (09.40 CEST; 07.40 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England) & Katsuki Furuse (Japan)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
