France Roster Packed with Youth for Tour to Argentina and Uruguay

France has named 32 players to take to South America. Head Coach Fabien Galthié has unveiled his roster to prepare from June 17-22 in France before the tour. France will play against Rugby World Cup 2023 Semi Finalists Argentina and play a historic away fixture against Uruguay.

Galthié’s roster contains players based at home and abroad. It is dominated by Top 14 players though there is room for Régis Montagne from Grenoble in the Pro D2. There is also a call-up for Antoine Frisch who plays his rugby for Munster in the United Rugby Championship (URC). Ireland had been looking to select the Frenchman.

The roster will be adapted following the Top 14 Semi Finals. There may therefore be additional players from losing Semi Finalists involved in the tour.

 

TOUR FIXTURES

July 06 VS (Mendoza, AR)

July 10 vs (Montevideo, UY)

July 13 VS(Buenos Aires, AR)

 

FRANCE ROSTER – FORWARDS

PROP
Demba Bamba (Lyon, 26 caps)
Giorgi Beria (Clermont, uncapped)
Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon, 27 caps)
Thomas Laclayat (Racing 92, 1 cap)
Régis Montagne (Grenoble, uncapped)
Matis Perchaud (Bayonne, uncapped)
Tevita Tatafu (Bayonne, uncapped)

HOOKER
Gaëtan Barlot (Castres, 7 caps)
Teddy Baubigney (Toulon, 1 cap)
Janick Tarrit (Clermont, uncapped)

SECOND-ROW
Hugo Auradou (Pau, uncapped)
Mickaël Guillard (Lyon, uncapped)
Posolo Tuilagi (Perpignan, 3 caps)
Florent Vanverberghe (Castres, uncapped)

BACK-ROW
Ibrahim Diallo (Racing 92, 2 caps)
Jordan Joseph (Racing 92, uncapped)
Lenni Nouchi (Montpellier, uncapped)
Yann Peysson (Castres, uncapped)
Killian Tixeront (Clermont, uncapped)

 

FRANCE ROSTER – BACKS

SCRUM-HALF
Baptiste Couilloud (Lyon, 16 caps)
Baptiste Jauneau (Clermont, uncapped)
Baptiste Serin (Toulon, 44 caps)

FLY HALF
Léo Perdeu (Lyon, uncapped)
Louis Carbonel (Montpellier, 5 caps)

CENTER
Léon Darricarrere (Clermont, uncapped)
Antoine Frisch (Munster, uncapped)
Émilien Gailleton (Pau, 1 cap)
Arthur Vincent (Montpellier, 18 caps)

WING
Nathanaël Hulleu (Castres, uncapped)
Joris Jurand (Clermont, uncapped)

FULLBACK
Théo Attissogbé (Pau, uncapped)
Melvyn Jaminet (Toulon, 19 caps)

 

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 NAMES

The length of the domestic season and the overlapping with the international season are extensive; quite simply they are out of control. World Rugby is still unable to provide the sport with a global season. An outcome of this is that rosters will have to be sacrificed at some point so as to provide players with rest.

France’s roster to tour South America is a case in point. Just four players featured for France at the World Cup: Jean-Baptiste Gros, Baptiste Coullouid, Arthur Vincent, and Melvyn Jaminet.

 

MISSING AND RETURNING NAMES

The Top 14 Semi Finals will be played in Bordeaux on June 21 and 22. Toulouse face La Rochelle and Bordeaux take-on Stade Français. Players from these teams are missing from the French roster. In other words, the list of missing players is lengthily as France could conceivably select a point roster entirely from the four Semi Finalists.

The missing names are clear in the forwards with just thirteen caps from the players selected for second-row, back-row and hooker. Prop is different, in part, as Jean-Baptists Gros and Demba Bamba have 27 and 26 caps respectively.

Baptiste Serin and Melvyn Jaminet are the notable backs who have been recalled. The two Toulon players missed the Six Nations. They are back to join Arthur Vincent and Baptiste Couilloud as the backbone of the French backline.

 

UNCAPPED PLAYERS

As noted above, just seven of France’s forwards are capped: Bamba, Barlot, Baubigny, Gros, Laclayat, and Tuilagi. This means many of the eighteen forwards will be making their test debuts in South America.

Galthié has gone for firsts-time call-ups for a number of players including Théo Attissogbe, Nathanaël Hulleu and Joris Jurand. Likewise, Antoine Frisch officially will not be jumping from France to Ireland.

Jurand and Hulleu are the two wingers named. However, France may yet play former u20 captain Émilien Gailleton at wing rather than center. There are uncapped players across all back positions.

 

FOREIGN-BORN AND HOMEGROWN PLAYERS

France’s roster for Rugby World Cup 2023 was 3% foreign-born. 93.9% of the players were homegrown. That is to say France Rugby clubs or French schools were primarily responsible for the development of all but one of the players in the final roster for the World Cup.

France’s roster for the 2024 Six Nations featured 13.6% foreign-born players and as 90.9% homegrown. France’s uncapped players selected to two South America are mostly entirely homegrown.

Giorgi Beria was born in Georgia but is a product of French rugby. He is a homegrown French player. He moved to France aged 2. Uncapped back-rower Jordan Joseph is the son of Haitian parents. H is French born and raised.

There is one exception among the uncapped players. Tevita Tatafu moved to France aged 17. He did so on the advice of his uncle who was also a professional rugby player in France from Tonga. Tatafu has not yet qualified for France. He will complete five years residency later this year and thus be eligible only for the November Internationals not earlier.