French 6 nations squad

Squad has been named, seems to be a bit light on hookers and half backs.

What you would expect really, big front 5, powerful set-piece with atheltic backs, but lacking top quality in the key decision making positions. I'm thinking that the guys in bold would start, and in italics benched. Serin is exciting however, and may add something off the bench.

I reckon fitness will be an issue, as these guys have been flogged in the slow and attritional top 14 since August.

++ Updated positions+++

Eddy Ben Arous
Uini Atonio
Rabah Slimani
Cyril Baille
Mohamed Boughanmi

Camille Chat
Guilhem Guirado
Clement Maynadier

Yoann Maestri
Sebastien Vahaamahina,
Arthur Iturria

Damien Chouly
Loann Goujon
Louis Picamoles
Raphael Lakafia
Kevin Gourdon
Fabien Sanconnie

Maxime Machenaud
Baptiste Serin

Jean-Marc Doussain
Camille Lopez,

Yann David,
Gael Fickou
Wesley Fofana
Remi Lamerat

Scott Spedding
Virimi Vakatawa
Noa Nakaitaci
Yoann Huget
Geoffrey Palis
Djibril Camara

Maynadier is in fact a hooker while this Camara is the winger (the flanker plays for Toulouse).
This 30 men training squads includes a few surprises and a couple of newbies which is nice (sanconnie,palis, iturria are new while lakafia and david haven't been there for ages) although there is little doubt that the actual squad will be very similar to the one that finished the AIs. I feel for Dulin who is now further down the pecking order behind spedding and now palis who are frankly quite average.
So expect something like that :
Ben Arous (if fit otherwise swap with Baille)
Guirado (chat)
Atonio (slimani)
Maestri
Vahaamina (iturria)
Goujon
Pocamoles
Gourdon (chouly)
Lopez (doussain)
Serin (machenaud)
Fofana (fickou)
Lamerat
Huget
Vakatawa
Spedding
I would even put another back on the bench instead of Machenaud as doussain can cover both 9 and 10 anyway. Given the injuries I don't mind te above team appart from the fullback choice as stated above and possibly missing young exciting wingers like Lacroix (top scorer in the league with la Rochelle) and dupichot (Pau) who are one for the future I guess.

whocares wrote:possibly missing young exciting wingers like Lacroix (top scorer in the league with la Rochelle)

Is he anything to Thierry Lacroix, who used to torment the life out of Ireland in the 90's?

How do you rate France's chances this year? The tight 5 seems great but I don't know anything about their loose forwards.

rapidsnowman wrote:

whocares wrote:possibly missing young exciting wingers like Lacroix (top scorer in the league with la Rochelle)

Is he anything to Thierry Lacroix, who used to torment the life out of Ireland in the 90's?

No I don't think so, Lacroix is a pretty common name over here as well. Pretty small winger (1.71m) compared to the Nadolos of this world but very quick and efficient. Would fit well with the new tackle law as well so shame he's not tried in the team yet but hopefully we will see him in the summer tour.

George Carlin wrote:How do you rate France's chances this year? The tight 5 seems great but I don't know anything about their loose forwards.

the tight 5 is ok - usual good but not particularly strong compared to recent French packs. Only difference is that Vahaamahina has started to put some good performances for France in the AIs so hopefully he carries on.
Backrow is where the improvement was made with up to 3 number 8s starting there (Goujon plays there at club and also Ollivon who is injured at the moment). Gourdon was probably our man of the AIs, very underrated backrower who has the skills of a centre when it comes to offloading and running lines. He's the go-to / link man of this team. Lamerat also another great addition and good to see that Noves hasn't called Bastareaud despite some people calling for it.

to answer your question, I rate our chance a bit better than in the past 5 years but given we have England and Ireland away I know we stand very little chance to win the tournament. winning 3 games would be on par with my expectation, winning 4 would be a great achievement. We haven't won a game against Wales since 2011 so that one is the one I really want to see us win.

Unfortunately Dulin is suffering because of Racing's poor form. He is mainly confined to defensive chores, which he does very well. Nice to see them get a good result against Leicester. Not sure if this is a sign of improved play or a continuation of the Tigers appalling away form.
I also think Spedding is a greatly improved player since he moved to the Auvergne.
Also worth noting that the scrum is pretty strong and England have major problems at 1 ( first two choice players injured) and a captain who has played 6 minutes in two  months!

sensisball wrote:Unfortunately Dulin is suffering because of Racing's poor form. He is mainly confined to defensive chores, which he does very well. Nice to see them get a good result against Leicester. Not sure if this is a sign of improved play or a continuation of the Tigers appalling away form.
I also think Spedding is a greatly improved player since he moved to the Auvergne.
Also worth noting that the scrum is pretty strong and England have major problems at 1 ( first two choice players injured) and a captain who has played 6 minutes in two  months!

Dulin also affected by the latest alleged doping affair (along with his partner Nyanga) as they found traces of Higenamine * (fat burner?) in some blood samples taken a while ago. Something seems rotten in that team...

Spedding is hardly the 1st choice 15 when Bendy is on form anyway - never been sold on him, way too robotic for me.

edit : * higemanine is currently not in the list of forbidden products so it's probably just a routine investigation to explain higher levels than usual.

Fofana out for the 6N and probably the rest of the season following a bad injury today. Huge blow for France.