France have made four changes to their training squad of 42 – including the return of fit-again Emmanuel Meafou – to prepare for next weekend’s Guinness Six Nations showdown with defending champions Ireland in Dublin.
Fabien Galthie’s French swatted aside Italy last Sunday in Rome with a record 73-24 victory that featured 11 tries. That lifted them to second in the table, three points behind the Irish who secured a troubled, bonus point-less win away to bottom side Wales in round three.
Meafou was a starter in France’s round two loss at England and the illness that ruled him out of the Italian trip has now been overcome. The Toulouse lock, who has taken the squad place of Lyon’s Dylan Cretin, is one of three changes to the 25 forwards summoned by Galthie to prepare for the Irish.
The two other pack changes are in the front row with La Rochelle’s Pierre Bourgarit in at hooker for Bordeaux’s Maxime Lamothie while Bayonne tighthead Tevita Tatafu, who started in the November win over New Zealand, has been chosen in place of Leinster’s Rabah Slimani. There is just one change to the 17 squad backs chosen this week, with Bordeaux’s Romain Buros picked ahead of Lyon’s Leo Berdeu.
Following their 25-26 loss England, France made four changes to their starting XV for Italy, including second row pair Thibaud Flament and Mickael Guillard for Alexandre Roumat and Meafou, and Theo Attissogbe and Leo Barre for Damian Penaud and Mathieu Jalibert in the backs.
? Voici la liste des ?? ??????? convoqués par le staff du ?? #XVdeFrance au CNR de Marcoussis lundi matin, pour la préparation du 4e match du #SixNations 2025 contre ?? l’Irlande.#NeFaisonsXV | @renault_fr pic.twitter.com/e1TIyJbUXd
— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) March 1, 2025
Weekend media reports in France have suggested that Penaud could be in line for a recall to the starting line-up in Dublin even though Attissogbe impressed with his try-scoring appearance in Rome.
RATINGS: The 9.5-rated Antoine Dupont put on a clinic with 11-try France running riot… but the weakness of one French player won’t have escaped the watching Ireland, writes Liam Heagney from Rome ???? #ITAvFRA #GuinnessM6N #rugby
Tap below for more ??https://t.co/M2zu0j7YOD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 23, 2025
