Australia, land of exploration for the Blues

Australia will be in July a land of hazardous exploration for the XV of France. Coach Fabien Galthié yesterday unveiled a list of 22 neophytes, with Anthony Jelonch as captain, in the absence of many executives, left to rest, and top 14 finalists. Two years before the 2023 World Cup in France , this large workforce review was expected for the three scheduled meetings against the Wallabies: July 7 in Sydney, 13 in Melbourne and 17 in Brisbane.

The management of the Blues had hinted that he would exempt his most sought-after executives from touring in order to allow them to breathe at the end of a particularly long and trying season, which began more than a year ago after the previous one was stopped by the health crisis.

He also had to compose, in order to be able to put 42 names on his list, with injuries and the impossibility of appealing to the players of the clubs concerned by the final of the Top 14, Toulouse and La Rochelle, usual large suppliers of internationals. With the meeting being disputed next Friday, they would not have been able to meet before the first test of the tour, on July 7, the strict 14-day quarantine imposed by Australian authorities on anyone arriving from abroad.

Jaminet, revelation of Pro D2

The XV of France will therefore fly to the island-continent today with a large contingent of players still virgin of any selection, including the back Melvyn Jaminet (21) and the pillar Quentin Walcker (25), who played in Pro D2 this season with Perpignan, Clermont center Tani Vili (20) or Pau scrum half Clovis Le Bail (25).

In the absence of the captain and third row Charles Ollivon, recently victim of a serious knee injury, but who would no doubt have been part of the framework, the scrum half Baptiste Serin was approached to take the keys to the truck tricolor in Australia. But the Toulonnais, vice-captain of the Blues, must undergo surgery on a shoulder and it will rather be the usual number three in the hierarchy of the position, the Lyonnais Baptiste Couilloud, who will be associated at the hinge with his Var teammate Louis Carbonel . For the captain’s armband, it is Anthony Jelonch (8 selections), player from Castres and future Toulousain who has been appointed for this Australian tour.

Wingers Damian Penaud and Teddy Thomas, and second row Romain Taofifenua are the only players with more than 20 caps in a largely inexperienced group at the international level, which has only four on average.

The third lines Anthony Jelonch and Dylan Cretin (10 selections), the pillars Jean-Baptiste Gros (9 selections) and Demba Bamba (14 selections), or the center Arthur Vincent (11 selections) will thus frame lesser-known faces of the Top 14, or even the elite antechamber.

The FFR and the National Rugby League (LNR) had concluded an agreement during the week allowing the Blues to benefit from an enlarged group of 42 players, instead of the 35 initially planned, in order to be able to run in view of the tightened program which awaits them.