France: Fabien Galthie brings back Damian Penaud as Les Bleus go for Six Nations Grand Slam

Colin Newboult

France's Damian Penaud celebrates scoring a try with team-mates during the Guinness Six Nations match at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh. Picture date: Saturday February 26, 2022.

Star wing Damian Penaud has recovered from Covid-19 to take his place in the France XV for the Six Nations finale against England.

Les Bleus are going for the Grand Slam and head coach Fabien Galthie has largely kept faith with the side that defeated Wales last weekend.

Yoram Moefana, who has impressed during this campaign, misses out. He is dropped from the squad completely due to injury, leaving Galthie to opt for a six-two split to combat England’s pack, which performed well against Ireland.

Imposing lock also returns

With the French looking to match their opponents’ power, they are pleased to welcome back Romain Taofifenua – another player to have suffered from Covid – and he takes his place among the replacements.

Elsewhere, it’s a case of more of the same with Melvyn Jaminet providing a dead-eye boot and counter-attacking threat from full-back.

At centre, Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou have formed an impressive and well-balanced partnership, but they will want more from Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack. While Dupont has showed his quality on occasions, Ntamack has struggled to truly fire.

There has been few such problems up front with the pack proving to be a well-oiled machine. Gregory Alldritt has re-found his best form and is joined by Anthony Jelonch and Francois Cros in the France back-row.

Paul Willemse has had a superb Six Nations tournament and, alongside standout youngster Cameron Woki, they have been a very effective unit in the engine room.

In the front-row, Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand are both contenders for player of the tournament, with Uini Atonio completing the XV.

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

Date: Saturday, March 19
Venue: Stade de France
Kick-off: 21:00 local (20:00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

READ MORE: Gregory Alldritt and Jonathan Danty carry burden of expectation

 

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Expert Witness on the final Six Nations weekend

Former England hooker George Chuter, ex-France centre Brian Liebenberg and Times journalist Alex Lowe join Planet Rugby's James While this week.