France v British and Irish Lions before All Blacks tour ‘confirmed’ but there’s a reason not to get ‘too excited’
British and Irish Lions lock Maro Itoje and an inset of France captain Antoine Dupont.
France and the British & Irish Lions will do battle in 2029 before the tourists depart to New Zealand to tackle the All Blacks, according to reports.
The French Rugby Federation and the Lions have been locked in talks for several months over the possibility of the two sides facing off after growing calls from fans, pundits and ex-players to do so.
France and Lions to collide in 2029
FFR vice president Abdelatif Benazzi confirmed as much in August last year.
“It’s progressing, but nothing formal. Every four years, we see the wave of people and enthusiasm it generates in all countries,” he told AFP.
“A collaboration with our neighbours remains something conceivable.”
Now it is being reported that those talks have been successful, and the teams will meet for the first time in 40 years.
The last time they did face off, Les Bleus emerged 29-27 victors at Parc des Princes, after the Lions had already toured Australia and secured a 2-1 Test series victory.
According to respected French publication Midi Olympique, the meeting between the two teams have been confirmed and will take place in June 2029.
The report lacked detail as the article was largely centralised around a new agreement between the LNR and FFR concerning France squad selections, including an expanded squad of 42 players, stricter rules for training partners, flexibility in selecting Top 14 finalists for the July internationals, and financial support from the League for amateur rugby.
It is stated that France head coach Fabien Galthie will be allowed to select players from the clubs who reach the Top 14 finals, giving the national team a better chance of performing in the Nations Championship.
In recent seasons, Galthie has toured with largely youthful teams void of top talents like Antoine Dupont to the likes of Australia, Japan, Argentina and most recently, New Zealand.
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However, the report suggests that this will be changing this year, with the head coach given more leeway to select top talents.
As mentioned above, few details were provided about Les Bleus’ clash with the Lions, but the tourists have repeatedly organised a fixture in the northern hemisphere before departing to the likes of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In 2013, the Lions faced off against the Barbarians in Hong Kong, and a match against the USA Eagles was proposed, but the idea was scrapped because of the unavailability of the US players due to club commitments.
Ahead of the tour to South Africa in 2021, the Warren Gatland-led side tackled Japan in Murrayfield, while last year, Andy Farrell’s team fell to a historic defeat to Argentina in Dublin ahead of the series in Australia.
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Don’t get too excited
While it seems as though the fixture in 2029 has been confirmed, fans shouldn’t get too excited about seeing a heavyweight battle, as it’s highly likely that the Lions would be tackling an understrength French outfit. That is, if 2025 is anything to go by.
Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn was named in Farrell’s squad for the tour, but arrived in Australia much later than his teammates, with the Top 14 final taking place on the same day as the Lions’ first touring game against the Western Force, the side’s second clash.
In fact, the semi-finals were played on the same weekend as the Lions’ clash against Argentina. If a similar schedule is organised in 2029, the tourists could well be facing a Les Bleus without the services of players from the four semi-finalist clubs.
While the French clubs and the national team have formed a more collaborative partnership in recent years, there is no way that a Top 14 side would be releasing their best players to the national team in the week of the semi-finals.
Los Pumas were without several of their star men when they tackled the Lions last year, including the likes of France-based Marcos Kremer, Santiago Chocobares, Juan Cruz Mallia, and Mateo Carreras.
Unless this fixture is scheduled after the Top 14 final, which is unlikely, one can expect an understrength France outfit to face off against the Lions.
Still, a 40-year first is something worth getting excited by and as Argentina showed last year, never write off the underdogs. It is bound to be an epic encounter, surely hosted at the glorious Stade de France, but if you’re hoping to see the best France have to offer going toe-to-toe with the best the home nations have to offer, don’t get your hopes up.
A team of a similar pedigree to the one that lost the Test series to the All Blacks last July is bound to be in action.
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