XV of France – New Zealand. Damian Penaud and François Cros withdraw, optimism for Thibaud Flament

The XV of France is having a pretty terrible start to the week. While several changes were envisaged by the staff in the composition of the team which will face New Zealand on Saturday evening, as revealed by us on Monday morning, Fabien Galthié and his deputies are also forced to adapt to the packages which 'continue. As indicated by our colleagues from L'Equipe, François Cros and Damian Penaud are not there against the All Blacks. The Toulouse third row, left as a precaution at half-time of the match against Japan after a head impact, suffered a concussion. So obviously he can't hold his place. And the management is faced with another bad news, namely the absence of the Clermont winger. Ill at the end of last week, he had already had to give up on Saturday against the Brave Blossoms and was replaced by Théo Attissogbe (who is now unavailable, due to a sprain of the internal lateral ligament of the left knee). Still suffering, Penaud will not be fit on Saturday.

Boudehent holder, Villière too?

So, how will the Blues reorganize? This necessarily depends on the state of health of second row Thibaud Flament, who also came out against Japan after receiving a blow to the iliac crest. The player took exams on Sunday, which were very reassuring. Even if there were questions about his remaining among the 42 players selected, the decision was logically made to keep him. According to our information, to date, there is optimism regarding him and he should be operational against New Zealand. If this is indeed the case, the question of putting Alexandre Roumat in the cage (as was the case on Saturday evening) will not arise at kick-off. Paul Boudehent will therefore replace François Cros in the starting XV, position for position. Charles Ollivon should be on the bench.

On the wing, it is Gabin Villière who would hold the rope to make his comeback on the international scene. Toulonnais' last match with the Blues dates back to September 14, 2023, the second meeting of the World Cup, against Uruguay. This while he started the opening match against… the All Blacks. Besides Matthis Lebel, there is also the solution of shifting Emilien Gailleton or Yoram Moefana to a wing, but this does not seem to be the preferred option. As a reminder, and as explained on this site on Monday, Uini Atonio will (barring any setbacks) be aligned from the start on the right of the first row, when Romain Buros should be preferred to Léo Barré at the back and thus celebrate his first selection.