France coach Philippe Saint-André has trimmed his squad for Saturday's Six Nations clash with Italy to 23 with Toulouse flank Yannick Nyanga dropping out of the group.
A spate of injuries amongst the loose forwards had forced Saint-André to retain an extra player in the squad announced on Monday.
There had been concerns over the fitness of Toulouse number eight Louis Picamoles and Montpellier flank Fulgence Ouedraogo but both trained on Wednesday without any problems.
In a contact session against France's U18 group, Picamoles, Ouedraogo and returning former skipper Thierry Dusautoir made up the back row.
Some pundits had suggested that Dusautoir, who has not played for France since March last year, would be the man to drop out but it now seems likely that he will start this weekend while his club team-mate Nyanga returns to Toulouse.
Saint-André will name his starting XV on Friday.
France squad:
Forwards(13): Vincent Debaty, Yannick Forestier, Benjamin Kayser, Dimitri Szarzewski, Luc Ducalcon, Nicolas Mas, Yoann Maestri, Pascal Papé, Romain Taofifenua, Damien Chouly, Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles.
Backs (10): Maxime Machenaud, Morgan Parra, Frédéric Michalak, François Trinh-Duc, Mathieu Bastareaud, Benjamin Fall, Wesley Fofana, Florian Fritz, Yoann Huget, Maxime Mermoz.
Comments
shrimps says...
Would like to see Taofifenua start. He's an absolute giant and possibly the biggest professional player.
Posted 20:22 31st January 2013
APV1 says...
I think a midfield of Fofana and Bastareaud offeres the most lethal combination, but who knows?
@ ABlack - on one hand I agree that the French do match-up well against England and outclass us in some areas. But I think our combined strength will be greater than the sum of it's parts. At least, I bloody-well hope so!
@ TVaddict - I wish they'd make up their mind. I'd just swapped in Kelly Brown as his replacement and now don't know whether to swap him back.
You gets points for starting, additonal points for playing the full 80, more if MoM, and more still if they score (depending on how they score, it varies).
And I can only field a maximum of 4 from each nation, so you have to be quite smart - not my forte, as most appreciate.
So many damned variables, I just want all of my starting 15 to be starting their matches. Anything less is obviously daft.
Posted 14:46 31st January 2013
TVaddict says...
@APV1
We can stop worrying, it looks like Picamoles will be fit for the game!
Posted 14:03 31st January 2013
99call says...
I can quite honestly say Im lost here there are only 2 back 3 players in there and the rest are centre and half backs, dont get me wrong that is a talented set of backs but I cant see a balanced backline no matter what combo you put out, assuming you have 2 half backs on the bench youll have another centre on there so a back 3 injury means youll have 4 centre on the pitch.......... that doesnt work for me
anyway its PSA's team, who obviously knows alot more than me, and his problem of how he gets this to work but it smacks of Eddie OSullivans theory of picking the best players and playing them out of position just so theyre on the pitch rather than picking the best players in each position and having specialists on the pitch, it didnt work for Eddie and I have a feeling it wont for PSA
Posted 11:29 31st January 2013
ABlack says...
France looks so good and the team to beat in the 6N. England cant match these guys for ability
Posted 03:01 31st January 2013
Stuntman_Stag says...
So disappointed to see Yannick Nyanga is out but Thierry Dusautoir and Damien Chouly are in the team, the way Yannick played in the recent tests and even when he came on in the snow against the tigers he showed how good he is. Hopefully he will be back soon. Still think france should win though.
Posted 23:30 30th January 2013
Bambo says...
PSA is giving me the worries. No fullback but a collection of, admittedly 1st class, centres and wingers often playing out of position. The ML philosophy of the last 4 years will not die!
Compound this by sending the in form Nyanga home. Perhaps he's being saved for the bigger games ahead? Hope so.
Two days to go! With Utopia on C4, a new British Sea Power album out, The Walking Dead groaning back onto TV, the local Song Thrush back on song and my local holding a barrel of stout to cry over! February is a beautiful month. Allez!
Posted 21:14 30th January 2013
Rosbif says...
Strange indeed. Having seen most of Toulouse's games recently, Nyanga certainly seemed in better form than Dusautoir.....
Seems PSA is making 3 classic selection errors all at once:
1. picking players out of position (Fofana, Huget etc),
2. picking on past performances not on current form (Dusautoir vs Nyanga, Forestier vs Domingo, Kayser vs Guirardo)
3. picking players carrying injuries hoping they will be OK on the day (Ouedraogo, Picamoles).
That said, PSA is no mug and has been with the squad for a whole 3 days now (!) so we should trust his judgement I guess?
ALLEZ!!!!!!
Posted 20:37 30th January 2013
melkdave says...
Looks a very good 23,but i do question what F,Friz really brings to the squad ??.I expect / hope to see a midfield of Bastareaud and Fontana,and id be surprised if PSA continues playing W.Fontana on the wing .Now all that remains is PSA making sure the players know they have a battle on their hands against Italy ,who improve seemingly every year
Posted 20:24 30th January 2013
mlbp says...
Likely line up:
Forestier, Szarzewski, Mas, Maestri, Pape, Dusautoir, Ouedraogo, Picamoles, Machenaud, Michalak, Fall, Mermoz, Fritz, Fofana, Huget.
Experimental line up:
Forestier, Szarzewski, Mas, Maestri, Pape, Chouly, Ouedraogo, Picamoles, Machenaud, Michalak, Fall, Fofana, Bastareaud, Huget, Trinh-Duc
But PSA can surprise us...
Posted 19:49 30th January 2013
mlbp says...
France is a bag of surprises...
Posted 19:43 30th January 2013