Yoann Maestri: Injury concern
France coach Philippe Saint André has retained the 24-man squad that beat Australia for Saturday's Test against Argentina in Lille.
Toulouse lock Yoann Maestri, who was forced to pull out of the game against the Wallabies with a back injury, remains in the group but will follow a separate training program for the next few days.
Perpignan's Sébastien Vahaamahina, who was called onto the French bench at the last minute also keeps his place for the clash against the Pumas, who beat Wales in Cardiff over the weekend.
France squad to face Argentina:
Forwards (14): Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Yannick Forestier (Castres), Benjamin Kayser (Clermont), Dimitri Szarzewski (Racing-Metro), Vincent Debaty (Clermont), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse, Pascal Pape (capt, Stade Francais), Jocelino Suta (Toulon), Damien Chouly (Clermont), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Sébastien Vahaamahina (Perpignan)
Backs (10): Maxime Machenaud (Racing-Metro), Morgan Parra (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Toulon), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Brice Dulin (Castres), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Yoann Huget (Toulouse), Maxime Mermoz (Toulon)
Comments
Rosbif says...
Going to be an interesting match! So many players know each other well from their club teams.... Really looking forward to it....
I wonder whether PSA might take a gamble and go for a 6/2 split on the bench? It takes advantage of the fact so many of his backs are able to play in multiple positions, and really takes the fight to the PUMAS up front. Imagine the Clermont front row plus Vahaamahina, Suta who can play 6, and Chouly all coming into the combat on 55mins. There's some serious power there!!
We didn't really see any decent rolling mauls or driven line-outs last week from either Aus or France.... Something tells me we might see a few this weekend....
Good luck to both teams :-)
Posted 11:44 13th November 2012
tripero says...
Such a match to see!!!
Posted 09:43 13th November 2012
melkdave says...
Not really a surprise given Frances performance last weekend .ets hope they can keep the momentum ,and intensity going.I dont want to see France reverting to their .Oh its ok we played great last match,we dont have to bother with this one ,mentality.France have to push n and build on last week,and i really thik they can aswell.
Posted 09:17 13th November 2012
Paco says...
This will be a very interesting test match for both teams! Let's see if they can continue playing at the same high level as they did last saturday. Argentina will have some amateur players on the bench to gain more international experience. Some of them may become very positive surprises in the near future!
Posted 22:56 12th November 2012