The French XV, largely reshuffled with six uncapped players, will be led by scrum-half Baptiste Serin, designated captain for the first match of the summer tour in Argentina, Saturday, in Mendoza. Deprived of his key players, such as Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Grégory Alldritt or Gaël Fickou, the coach Fabien Galthié has therefore decided to start six uncapped players to challenge the Pumas, semi-finalists of the World Cup.
Pau wingers Théo Attissogbé (19 years old) and Stade français Lester Etien (29 years old) as well as Toulon centre Antoine Frisch (28 years old) will honour their first selection. This is also the case for La Rochelle third rows Oscar Jégou (21 years old) and Racing 92 Jordan Joseph (23 years old) or Pau second row Hugo Auradou (20 years old).
Colombe and Barré follow suit
Two more “rookies” could discover the international level if they come off the bench: Lyon second row Mickaël Guillard (23 years old) and Montpellier flanker Lenni Nouchi (20 years old). This young (24.5 years old on average) and inexperienced team (7 caps on average) will be led by Toulon scrum-half Baptiste Serin (30 years old, 44 caps), the most seasoned player of the forty-two players called up for the tour.
The scrum-half had not worn the jersey bearing the rooster since a victory against Fiji (34-17), in a warm-up match for the World Cup in France, on August 19, 2023. His last start in the French team dates back to November 28, 2020 and a victory against Italy (36-5), during the Autumn Nations Cup. Also noteworthy is the great return to the Blues of La Rochelle flanker Judicaël Cancoriet (28 years old), six years after the last of his four selections, marked by a heavy defeat against the All Blacks (52-11) on June 9, 2018 at the legendary Eden Park.
Only La Rochelle prop George-Henri Colombe (26 years old, 2 caps) and Stade Français fullback Léo Barré (21 years old, 2 caps) had played in the last match of the Blues, against England (33-31) in the Six Nations Tournament. They are joined by other “regulars” of the gatherings, like Racing 92 prop Demba Bamba (26 years old, 26 caps), Perpignan second row Posolo Tuilagi (19 years old, 3 caps), Lyon scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud (26 years old, 16 caps) or Toulon fullback Melvyn Jaminet (24 years old, 19 caps), all substitutes.
The players who will play against the Pumas should not play the next match, on July 10 in Montevideo against Uruguay, a friendly match which does not entitle them to a selection anyway. The French XV will then meet the Pumas again, on July 13, in Buenos Aires.
Composition of the French XV against Argentina
Barré – Attissogbe, Gailleton, Frisch, Etien – (o) Hastoy, (m) Serin – Jegou, Joseph, Cancoriet – Pesenti, Auradou – Colombe, Barlot, Gros
Substitutes: Baubigny, S. Taofifenua, Bamba, Tuilagi, Guillard, Nouchi, Couilloud, Jaminet
