In Marcoussis

With three days to go before the clash with New Zealand, the French national team has two of its key players back in action. Slightly ill at the start of the week, Les Bleus captain Antoine Dupont was back in training on Wednesday at Marcoussis, during the session open to the public, who turned out en masse. Second row Thibaud Flament had suffered an iliac crest injury last Saturday against Japan and, after being spared, he also returned to the CNR pitch with his team-mates.

As for the rest, we already knew that winger Damian Penaud (ill), flanker François Cros (concussion) and prop Uini Atonio (calf) were already out for the second of the three autumn test matches. So the question was, who would replace these three players? In the game of potential starters observed on Tuesday and confirmed on Wednesday, Gabin Villière is expected to start on the wing in place of Théo Attissogbe (knee sprain), Paul Boudehent, scorer of a brace against the Brave Blossoms, is expected to line up in the third row and Tevita Tatafu, who honored his first international cap against the Nipponese, is expected to line up on the right of the Tricolor scrum.

Romain Buros’ debut?

Fabien Galthié is used to continuity from one match to the next, and this time he is likely to make two further changes to his three-quarter line-up. The experienced Gäel Fickou will return to the center, having been replaced last Saturday but preferred to Émilien Gailleton for Saturday. Another highly symbolic change is the arrival of UBB full-back Romain Buros, who is set to win his first international cap against the world runners-up, in place of Parisian Léo Barré, who had made five straight starts for the French national team, but was disappointing last Saturday.

Matthieu Jalibert the big loser?

This week’s big loser is likely to be Matthieu Jalibert, who is not even expected to be on the substitutes’ bench and should be released this Wednesday evening. The UBB opener came on as a finisher in the first match against Japan. Fabien Galthié and his staff are likely to choose a 6-2 bench to face the All Blacks. With just two backs: scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, preferred to Maxime Lucu, and Emilien Gailleton, who started last Saturday, as a versatile back.

On Saturday (9:10pm) at the Stade de France, the XV de France will be aiming for a third straight win over the All Blacks, following on from their success in November 2021 (40-25) and their most recent success on the opening day of the last World Cup in 2023 (27-13). A new success would be historic, as Les Bleus have only once had such a series against the New Zealanders, with two victories during the 1994 tour on the other side of the world (8-22 and 20-23), followed by another in Toulouse in 1995 (22-15).

Likely XV against New Zealand:

Buros – Villière, Fickou, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey – (o) Ramos, (m) Dupont (cap) – Roumat, Alldritt, Boudehent – Meafou, Flament – Tatafu, Mauvaka, Gros

Substitutes : Marchand, Wardi, Colombe, R. Taofifenua, Guillard, Ollivon, Le Garrec, Gailleton.