Six Nations: France release 14 players back to their clubs
France coach Fabien Galthie has trimmed his squad down to 28 players ahead of the match against Italy on Sunday, releasing 14 players back to the Top 14.
There are several experienced players thus not in contention for the tournament opener against Italy, with perhaps the most surprising release that of Racing centre Virimi Vakatawa.
Lacking
The released players are a 50-50 mix of forwards and backs, including four back-row players: Paul Boudehent, Ibrahim Diallo, Yoan Tanga and Sekou Macalou, two locks: Thomas Lavault and Florian Verhaege, and prop JƩrƓme Rey.
In the backs, three wings: Mathis Lebel, Jules Favre and Donovan Taofifenua, centres Vakatawa and Tani Vili, half-back Antoine Hastoy and utility back Brice Dulin are released.
High Performance Director Thibault Giroud noted that Vakatawa, who has recently returned from injury, was still lacking a little sharpness and condition, also saying that the squad is likely to be rotated during the tournament.
“He (Vakatawa) had to lose a little weight, to start again on very precise intensities on speed and neuromuscular condition,” said Giroud to L’Equipe.
“We have worked a lot with him since the beginning of the preparation on very precise areas. He wants to come back to the highest level, he knows that there are people in his position and that things can change very quickly.
“He works very hard and we tried to give him as much confidence as possible in the development of his qualities. He has been very diligent, he has always achieved the objectives we set for him. We’ll do everything we can to get him back to his best level but I’m not worried about him.”
Yet much debate in France has centred around the fitness – or not – of the players and their fatigue levels after what is often a brutally long season. Giroud confirmed that the squad was being prepared a little differently to before.
“We don’t believe in a crescendo schedule at all, we can’t afford it,” said Giroud.
“I can’t say to the coach ‘we’ll be ready for such and such a game or such and such a date’. We have to be good this weekend, we can’t neglect a match. We have to keep our players fit for the whole tournament, and we realised that we had problems finishing the tournament in the past two years.
“The main factor that can explain why teams slow down at the end of the tournament is the volume of training. That’s why we wanted to regulate our content.
“It has to be adapted to the game plan we are looking for while asking the players to reach the physiological values we need. If we don’t regulate the volume of training during the tournament, we will have players who are burning out.
“So we have changed our method and asked the players to hit the high intensity data as early as possible in our training sessions.
“Last year, we spent more time on the field to achieve them, this year the aim is to have very intense but very short sessions. This is an evolution that will be implemented until the World Cup because the very high level requires a fairly low quantity of training but a crucial focus on quality.”