The French XV plays its third and final match of the fall tour against Argentina this Friday, November 22 (9:10 p.m.) at the Stade de France. After a spectacular victory (52-12) against Japan, the Blues followed up with a valuable success (30-29) against the All Blacks at the end of a very high level match. With confidence, Fabien Galthié's men will try to close this autumn tour with a third victory, but for that, they will have to get rid of the always eye-catching Pumas.
Distrust for the Blues
Historically, Argentina has often posed problems for the French XV although the Blues dominate the confrontation record with 14 victories for 10 defeats. Until July 13, the French XV remained on 5 consecutive victories against the Pumas before losing (33-25) with a team largely reshuffled in a difficult context, marked by the Auradou-Jegou affair.
If the Blues are in great shape in November, Argentina easily won (18-50) in Italy and seriously held off Ireland in Dublin before losing (22-19). In September as part of the Rugby championship, the Pumas achieved the feat of beating South Africa (29-28), reigning double world champion before being seriously corrected by the Boks (48-7) following week. Not always consistent, Argentina is however capable of beating any team and the Blues will have to be wary of this trap.
The French XV group to face Argentina
Matthieu Jalibert is the big absentee from this group of 42 players. Damian Penaud is still unavailable after contracting a virus while Tevita Tatafu is not in the squad following his injury against New Zealand. Pierre-Louis Barassi replaces Paul Costes, injured in the ankle, while Florent Vanverberghe replaces Romain Taofifenua, who was withdrawn after a concussion against the Blacks. Louis Le Brun and Cheikh Tibergien were summoned by Fabien Galthié.
Front line : Uini Atonio, Giorgi Beria, George-Henri Colombe, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Julien Marchand, Peato Mauvaka, Régis Montagne, Maxime Lamothe, Réda Wardi.
Second line : Pierre Bochaton, Thibaud Flament, Mickaël Guillard, Emmanuel Meafou, Florent Vanverberghe, Cameron Woki.
Third line : Grégory Alldritt, François Cros, Paul Boudehent, Marko Gazzotti, Anthony Jelonch, Temo Matiu, Charles Ollivon, Alexandre Roumat, Killian Tixeront.
Charnière : Léo Berdeu, Louis Le Brun, Antoine Dupont, Nolann Le Garrec, Maxime Lucu.
Centres : Pierre-Louis Barassi, Léon Darricarrère, Gaël Fickou, Antoine Frisch, Emilien Gailleton, Yoram Moefana.
Wingers/backs : Léo Barré, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Romain Buros, Cheick Tiberghien, Mathis Lebel, Thomas Ramos, Gabin Villière.
The Pumas group for the fall tour
Before : Matias Alemanno, Bautista Bernasconi, Ignacio Calles, Pedro Delgado, Efrain Elias, Thomas Gallo, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Juan Martin Gonzales, Santiago Grondona, Franco Molina, Julian Montoya, Joaquin Oviedo, Bautista Pedemonte, Guido Petti, Pedro Rubiolo, Ignacio Ruiz , Joel Scalvi.
Rears : Tomas Albornoz, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Gonzalo Bertranou, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Cordero, Bautista Delguy, Benjamin Elizalde, Gonzalo Garcia, Rodrigo Isgro, Juan Cruz Mallia, Matias Moroni, Matias Orlando, Santiago Pernas, Justo Piccardo, Geronimo Prisciantelli
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At what time to follow France – Argentina?
The match will kick off on Friday November 22 (9:10 p.m.) at the Stade de France.
On which channel to follow France – Argentina?
The match between France and Argentina will be followed on TF1like the two previous meetings of the XV of France during this autumn tour.
