France: Uncle and nephew team up as Fabien Galthie experiments

Lawrence Nolan 30 Jun 2022 8:04 AM

France could cause a world first on Saturday against Japan, should Sipili Falatea come off the bench while Yoram Moefana is still on the pitch.

For although the former is only four years the latter’s senior, he is also his uncle, with Moefana the son of Falatea’s older brother.

Green bleus

The quirk reflects also the experimental nature of Fabien Galthie’s France selection for the first Test against Japan on Saturday, with several fringe players getting a chance to stake a late claim for a 2023 World Cup opportunity.

The most experienced player in the line-up is Damian Penaud, with 32 caps (and in winning his 33rd on Saturday will also eclipse his father’s cap total). Thomas Jolmes at lock and Yoan Tanga at eight both make their debuts as starters, Thibault Flament will do likewise from the bench.

Also noteworthy is that the Bordeaux half-back pairing of Max Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert will get a chance to pair up in the blue of France for the first time as well, barring a few short minutes last year against Georgia.

Both Jolmes and Tanga might have made their debuts earlier had injury not intervened, noted Galthie.

“Thomas Jolmes is in good shape, he had a good season with Bordeaux,” he said.

“He had already been picked last winter but he was unable to come due to injury.

“(Tanga) had a good season with Racing 92 and was selected during the winter. Unfortunately, during the preparation, he was injured off the field.

“He was able to do a week of intense work and was very successful during that week, especially when we were able to play a game, he deserved to start on Saturday.”

He added: “The selection situation is kind of the same as when we went to Australia (last year). This tour in Japan, it’s a bit of a laboratory. We have made some big calls, but last year and again this year, given the schedules and the pace of the players, we looked to select players who were fresh and mentally available.

“We did not hesitate to look for Pro D2 players, but also players from the France U20 team, with whom we often trained.

“And during these trainings, we were able to see players who were likely to complete this list of 42 in order to work in continuity. But we insisted on the freshness of the players who are here after a very long season.”

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