France’s Romain Ntamack is set to line up at fly-half for the first time in almost 18 months but the Six Nations favourites will be without the wing Damian Penaud for Friday night’s opener against Wales, adding to a list of key players unavailable for the curtain-raiser at the Stade de France.
Ntamack missed the 2023 World Cup with a knee injury and his planned comeback last November was curtailed by a calf injury, but he will reprise his highly rated combination with the returning captain Antoine Dupont. Penaud had been expected to return to the team but suffered a toe injury in training and Théo Attissogbé will line up on the wing instead.
France are already without the veteran centre Gaël Fickou, the lock Thibaud Flament and the loose forward Charles Ollivon, with Fabien Galthié making five changes in total from the side who beat Argentina 37-23 in Paris in November. Ntamack’s return pushes Thomas Ramos to full-back in place of Léo Barré while Pierre-Louis Barassi replaces Fickou in the midfield and Attissogbé takes Gabin Villiere’s place on the wing. The former captain Grégory Alldritt returns to the back of the pack in place of Ollivon after being dropped before the win over Argentina while Alexandre Roumat is in for Flament.
On the bench, Galthié has included Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, who made their debut in Argentina last year but were then arrested on rape charges that were later dropped. The two players, allowed to leave Argentina in September, always denied any wrongdoing and said the sex was consensual. Galthié refused to answer a question about their inclusion. “We’ve already answered these questions a lot. Today is the announcement of the French team, on the players who play, those who perform. I will focus on these answers,” he said.
