Against the Springboks with Le Garrec, Guillard and Erdocio? Present on Tuesday morning on the lawn of the Marcoussis training ground to take part in the thematic exercises at the start of the session before disappearing when the rest of the group moves up a gear in terms of intensity, Antoine Dupont, who should however soon make his return, will obviously not be starting on Saturday against South Africa at the Stade de France on the occasion of the first meeting of the autumn tour for the Blues.
This session, however, allowed us to know the starting XV that Fabien Galthié should launch at kick-off this weekend against the Springboks in Saint-Denis. And unfortunately for Grégory Alldritt, already not included in the 23 protected players and left at the disposal of his club last weekend – which he had a lot of difficulty digesting – he should not enter into his coach’s plans for this first test.
The Garrec preferred to Lucu in the scrum?
While the Rochelais, who did not train on Tuesday, should not even appear on the match sheet, Mickaël Guillard, who appeared in the last twelve matches of the Blues (including six times as a starter) and probably preferred to Alldritt in number 8, Anthony Jelonch and Paul Boudehent should, barring any surprises, be associated in the third row. Likewise, Baptiste Erdocio, the left tackle from Montpellier who made his debut this summer in New Zealand, Julien Marchand and Régis Montagne (Clermont) should start on the front line in the absence of Uini Atonio and Tevita Tatafu, while Emmanuel Meafou and Thibaut Flament should start on the second line.
In the middle, Nolann Le Garrec should be preferred to Maxime Lucu alongside Romain Ntamack. Ramos should start at the back, Gaël Fickou, again captain, and Pierre-Louis Barassi start in the center and Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey take charge of the wings. The only question mark concerns the bench, where Galthié could not line up six forwards and two three-quarters but seven forwards (Editor’s note: A choice which would probably rule out Nicolas Depoortere). For the rest, the intentions of the coach of the XV of France now seem very clear.
The probable starting XV for the Blues against South Africa:
Ramos – Penaud, Barassi, Fickou (cap), Bielle-Biarrey – (o) Ntamack, (m) Le Garrec – Boudehent, Guillard, Jelonch – Meafou, Flament – Montagne, Marchand, Erdocio
Substitutions (also likely): Cramont, Gros, Aldegheri, R.Taofifenua, Jegou, Lucu, Auradou, Depoortere (?)
