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Alldritt to lead France against Fiji as Willemse and Cros return

2023-08-17 09:34
La Rochelle backrow forward Gregory Alldritt will captain France against Fiji in Saturday's Rugby World Cup warm-up against Fiji as Paul Willemse and Francois Cros...
Alldritt to lead France against Fiji as Willemse and Cros return

La Rochelle backrow forward Gregory Alldritt will captain France against Fiji in Saturday's Rugby World Cup warm-up against Fiji as Paul Willemse and Francois Cros are recalled by the tournament hosts.

Alldritt will lead a heavily rotated team in Nantes as Montpellier lock Willemse and Toulouse flanker Cros return from injury, with France coach Fabien Galthie set to name his 33-man World Cup squad next Monday.

La Rochelle's Antoine Hastoy comes in at fly-half for Romain Ntamack, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained in last week's 30-27 win over Scotland.

Hastoy, capped three times, gets the nod ahead of Bordeaux-Begles stand-off Matthieu Jalibert, and will pair up with scrum-half Maxime Lucu for the first time.

Toulouse's Melvyn Jaminet is set for his first France start since a Grand Slam-clinching 25-13 victory over England at last year's Six Nations. Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Yoram Moefana start on the wings.

Centre Arthur Vincent -- who made his first international appearance in over two injury-plagued years in the 25-21 loss to Scotland on August 5 -- will line up alongside Jonathan Danty, one of just two players to keep his place from a week ago along with Alldritt.

France will have their final warm-up game against Australia at the Stade de France next weekend. They open the World Cup against New Zealand on September 8.

France  (15-1)

Melvyn Jaminet; Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Jonathan Danty, Arthur Vincent, Yoram Moefana; Antoine Hastoy, Maxime Lucu; Gregory Alldritt (capt), Dylan Cretin, Francois Cros; Paul Willemse, Florian Verhaeghe; Uini Atonio, Peato Mauvaka, Reda Wardi

Replacements: Pierre Bourgarit, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Thomas Laclayat, Bastien Chalureau, Thibaud Flament, Sekou Macalou, Baptiste Serin, Matthieu Jalibert

rap-lrb-mca/mw/rox

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