A back row with a new look
France’s team to face Fiji in Lyon on November 7 is starting to take shape. According to RMC Sport, François Cros wore the number eight bib in training at Marcoussis on Tuesday, flanked by La Rochelle’s Paul Boudehent and Bordeaux’s Cameron Woki.
Cros played there in 2024 against Italy in Lille, a 13-13 draw. Woki has not been capped since that same match. To find him in the back row for France, you have to go back to the autumn of 2021 and a game against Argentina. The staff has rotated heavily, so the picture can still change before the Nations Championship opener.
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Injuries shape the front row and the backs
Hugo Auradou and Mickael Guillard looked set to start together in the second row for the first time. Jean-Baptiste Gros leads at loosehead with Jefferson Poirot behind him, and Maxime Lamothe is the hooker. Tighthead remains the sore spot. With Régis Montagne and Demba Bamba hurt, Sipili Falatea was used as the starter in the squad session.
Behind the scrum, Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack are the half-backs. Matthieu Jalbert, Thomas Ramos and Fabien Brau-Boirie are all out, which narrows the choices. Yoram Moefana is at first centre next to Kalvin Gourgues, who is in line for a fifth cap. Théo Attissogbe moves to full-back, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang takes the right wing, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey chases his 30th try in his 28th Test.
The projected XV: Gros, Lamothe, Falatea; Auradou, Guillard; Boudehent, Woki, Cros; Dupont, Ntamack; Bielle-Biarrey, Moefana, Gourgues, Grandidier-Nkanang, Attissogbe.
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