France: Antoine Dupont leads strong France side against Italy in Six Nations

Adam Kyriacou

04 Feb 2022 7:50 AM

France coach Fabien Galthie has named his side for their Six Nations opener against Italy, which takes place at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Antoine Dupont skippers the line-up and is joined in the half-backs by Romain Ntamack, with Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou the starting centre combination.

Outside them is the dangerous and hard-working wing duo of Gabin Viliere and Damian Penaud while the steady Melvyn Jaminet continues in the full-back spot.

The forward pack is equally formidable as hooker Julien Marchand has props Cyril Baille and Uini Atonio either side of him as the trio look to dominate up front.

Cameron Woki starts at lock

The lock pairing is blessed with grunt, intelligence and athletic ability as the outstanding Cameron Woki joins up with Paul Willemse against Italy this weekend.

France‘s starting XV is completed by a back-row of Anthony Jelonch, Dylan Cretin and Gregory Alldritt as they look to start the Six Nations with a bang in Paris.

Head coach Galthie has included Peato Mauvaka, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Demba Bamba, Romain Taofifenua and Francois Cros as his forward replacements while Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana, Thomas Ramos will act as cover for the backs on Sunday.

France: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Gabin Vilière, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Dylan Cretin, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Francois Cros, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Thomas Ramos

Date: Sunday, February 6
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 16:00 local (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Damon Murphy (RA)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)