Alldritt, Willemse, Cross return for France
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: France have recalled captain Gregory Alldritt for their World Cup warm-up clash with Fiji in Nantes on Saturday while Paul Willemse and Francois Cros also return for the tournament hosts.
Alldritt will lead a heavily rotated team in Nantes as Montpellier lock Willemse and Toulouse flanker Cros return from injury, with France coach Fabien Galthie set to name his 33-man World Cup squad next Monday.
La Rochelle’s Antoine Hastoy comes in at flyhalf for Romain Ntamack, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained in last week’s 30-27 win over Scotland.
Hastoy, capped three times, gets the nod ahead of Bordeaux-Begles’ Matthieu Jalibert, and will pair up with scrumhalf Maxime Lucu for the first time.
Toulouse’s Melvyn Jaminet is set for his first France start since a Grand Slam-clinching 25-13 victory over England at last year’s Six Nations. Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Yoram Moefana start on the wings.
Centre Arthur Vincent, who made his first international appearance in over two injury-plagued years in the 21-25 loss to Scotland on August 5, will line up alongside Jonathan Danty, one of just two players to keep his place from a week ago along with Alldritt.
France will have their final warm-up game against Australia at the Stade de France next weekend. They open the World Cup against New Zealand on September 8.
France: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Arthur Vincent, 11 Yoram Moefana, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Gregory Alldritt (captain), 7 Dylan Cretin, 6Francois Cros; 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1Reda Wardi
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Bastien Chalureau, 20 Thibaud Flament, 21 Sekou Macalou, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Matthieu Jalibert
Venue: Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Kick-off: 21.00 (19.00 GMT)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (FIR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
