La Rochelle loose forward Gregory Alldritt will captain France against Fiji in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up as Paul Willemse and Francois Cros are recalled by the tournament hosts.
Alldritt will lead a heavily rotated team in Nantes as Montpellier lock Willemse and Toulouse flanker Cros return from injury, with France coach Fabien Galthie set to name his 33-man World Cup squad next Monday.
La Rochelle’s Antoine Hastoy comes in at fly-half for Romain Ntamack, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained in last week’s 30-27 win over Scotland.
Hastoy, capped three times, gets the nod ahead of Bordeaux-Begles stand-off Matthieu Jalibert, and will pair up with scrum-half Maxime Lucu for the first time.
Toulouse’s Melvyn Jaminet is set for his first France start since a Grand Slam-clinching 25-13 victory over England at last year’s Six Nations. Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Yoram Moefana start on the wings.
Big Bok win loading?⌛️@mark_keohane and Zels predict a massacre at the Millennium Stadium when the Boks battle Wales on Saturday 🇿🇦🏴 pic.twitter.com/XqGFcX0mz9
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) August 17, 2023
Centre Arthur Vincent — who made his first international appearance in over two injury-plagued years in the 25-21 loss to Scotland on August 5 — will line up alongside Jonathan Danty, one of just two players to keep his place from a week ago along with Alldritt.
France will have their final warm-up game against Australia at the Stade de France next weekend. They open the World Cup against New Zealand on September 8.
France – 15 Melvyn Jaminet; 14 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Arthur Vincent, 11 Yoram Moefana; 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Maxime Lucu; 8 Gregory Alldritt (c), 7 Dylan Cretin, 6 Francois Cros; 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Florian Verhaeghe; 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1Reda Wardi.
Subs: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Bastien Chalureau, 20 Thibaud Flament, 21 Sekou Macalou, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Matthieu Jalibert.
Our team 🔐 for this weekend.
🇫🇯 VS 🇫🇷 #FIJIWaterFlyingFijians#duavataveilomanirakavi#FIJIWater pic.twitter.com/CcpsJX8m3c— Fiji Rugby Union (@fijirugby) August 17, 2023
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Twitter: @FranceRugby