Axel May // Photo credit: Geoff Caddick / AFP
It is late this Friday morning that Fabien Galthié will announce the list of players selected for the trip to Cardiff. After a defeat, a narrow victory and a draw, the Blues found Marcoussis this week to prepare for their 4th match of the Tournament, which will take place in Wales on Sunday. The start of the competition was difficult and the coach is expected to announce many changes.
At the national rugby center in Marcoussis, where the French XV spent the week, we first had to digest the worrying draw against Italy. “To tell you that there were big bursts of laughter at the start of the week would be to lie. But today, the players are having fun again. On the other hand, we have to say things to each other, and I think they have were said at the start of the week”, explains William Servat, coach in charge of the forwards.
Three new Blues expected in Cardiff
The match against Italy was therefore debriefed with frankness and one of the consequences is that coach Fabien Galthié will announce this Friday changes in the squad which will go to Wales. Three players should celebrate their first selection: the powerful second row of Australian origin Emmanuel Meafou, the Parisian full-back Léo Barré and the center Nicolas Depoortère, who plays in Bordeaux.
“How would I introduce myself? Someone simple, who doesn’t take it easy. I’ve been in Bordeaux for eight years now, a year and a half since I played professionally and I’ve just joined the French XV “, summarizes the UBB player.
Among the other expected changes: Matthieu Jalibert being injured, it is Thomas Ramos who should take over the position of fly-half, associated with the young scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, preferred to Maxime Lucu. Ramos/Le Garrec: an unprecedented central hinge, but also a bet to revive a French XV in great difficulty since the failure of the World Cup.