Toulouse. Blues: seven Toulousains entry?
The staff of the Blues will make some changes and should rely on a large backbone of Toulouse but also establish Mohamed Haouas and Gabin Villière.
It is this Thursday, at noon, that the coach of the XV of France Fabien Galthié will unveil the composition of the team which will begin the autumn tour against Argentina, at the Stade de France, on Saturday evening. To tell the truth, the main lines are already known, thanks to the famous high intensity training desired by the staff of the Blues, started last week and during which Galthié and his assistants do not really hide their intentions at the little game of tunics blue or white. This had been revealed in the columns of Midi Olympique even before the rally but the big news will be the Jalibert-Ntamack association, imagined in particular by the attack coach Laurent Labit and facilitated by the packages at the center of Arthur Vincent and Virimi Vakatawa. While the two men have been walking on the water since the start of the season, the Bordelais will be in an opener position and the Toulousain will be shifted to number 12, a position he regularly occupied in the club before being fixed. at the hinge. He will be associated with Gaël Fickou but will not be disoriented within a team of France which could include seven Toulouse in its ranks at kick-off.
Villière and Haouas, barely recalled, already established
If there is no doubt that the neo-captain Antoine Dupont (in the absence of Charles Ollivon) will be aligned in the fray, that Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand will start on the front line and that François Cros will be present in flanker, the second Thibaud Flament line should also open his international career with a tenure, alongside Paul Willemse in the cage. Anthony Jelonch, exemplary captain during the tour in Australia in June, will surely be preferred to Grégory Alldritt in number 8. A strong choice from Fabien Galthié. Another Rochelais should lose his place, namely Brice Dulin, doubled by the Perpignanais Melvyn Jaminet at the back, another great satisfaction of the summer tour, which could be in charge of the penalties on Saturday. Like the Bordelais Cameron Woki, moreover, led to start in the third row. The winger Matthis Lebel was the eighth Toulousain to be long tipped to start but he could wait to know his first selection. The Toulonnais Gabin Villière, during the first week of preparation and recalled Sunday in Marcoussis, directly received the starting XV and the other wing being occupied by Damian Penaud. Mohamed Haouas is in the same situation as Villière and, despite the risk of the lack of rhythm, he should pass in front of Demba Bamba to the right of the fray. As for the substitutes, Galthié insisted on his will to better finish the matches. If Jean-Baptiste Gros, Romain Taofifenua or Grégory Alldritt are logically expected, Peato Mauvaka should win on the sheet for his qualities as a finisher. Maxime Lucu would be one step ahead of Baptiste Couilloud and Jonathan Danty could accompany him. Uncertainty remains on the choice of placing five or six forwards on the bench, in which case Sekou Macalou would be the sixth man.
The probable team: Jaminet; Penaud, Fickou, Ntamack, Villière; Jalibert, Dupont (chapter); Woki, Jelonch, Cros; Willemse, Flament; Houas, Marchand, Baille.