Fabien Galthié no longer wants to be called “premiums”. But these fifteen players all look like a typical team. Thursday August 24, the coach of the Blues announced his composition to face Australia, Sunday at the Stade de France (5:45 p.m.), on the occasion of the last full-scale test before the Rugby World Cup (September 8 to 28 october). A formation that gives pride of place to the usual holders and which should look a lot like the one that will come forward to challenge New Zealand in the opening match of the World Cup.
After having rotated his squad a lot during the double confrontation against Scotland, then the victory against Fiji (34-17), Galthié this time returned to a more classic pattern around his captain Antoine Dupont. The scrum half will be associated with the hinge to the opener Matthieu Jalibert, designated replacement for Romain Ntamack after his serious knee injury. The Bordelais thus seems to have a head start on the Rochelais Antoine Hastoy in the quest for the flocked jersey of the “10”.
“Matthieu Jalibert, he has been traveling and playing with us for four years. He has almost 30 selections, and the approach of the thirtieth is really a milestone that he is passing, explained Fabien Galthié during his press conference. He has gone through very happy moments and other more complex ones related to performance or injuries. He is still young and approaching international maturity. We have always counted on him for four years, there is no discussion about his potential and his ability to take on the position. »
For the rest, only the left pillar Jean-Baptiste Gros looks like a “surprise guest” in this typical starting XV. But his tenure is not surprising since the Toulonnais compensates for the absence due to injury of Cyril Baille. In addition to the result, avoiding physical glitches will also be the main mission of the Blues against Australia.
“Rugby is a combat sport and we know that we can get injured in training, as in warming up or in matches, recalled the coach of the XV of France. Earlier in the week, performance director Thibault Giroud explained to L’Equipe that “there will still be injuries” by the end of the World Cup, “it’s part of professional rugby”.
Finally, the surprises of the composition against Australia are rather to be found on the bench. In addition to the usual “finishers” like Peato Mauvaka or Romain Taofifenua, we find Baptiste Couilloud preferred to Maxime Lucu to replace Antoine Dupont at the end of the match, and the back Melvyn Jaminet who benefits from his good performance against Fiji to invite himself on the game sheet. Finally, Sébastien Taofifenua will have a special feature on Sunday: the pillar will take his place on the bench… even though he was not included in the list of 33 players playing the World Cup with the Blues.
