“It is first of all a selection and not a non-selection. » If Fabien Galthié wanted to talk about the presents with the newspaper L’Équipe, some absent from his list attracted attention. On Wednesday, the coach of the French XV revealed the group of 42 players called up for the start of the 2026 Six Nations Tournament.
A list on which the names of Grégory Alldritt, Gaël Fickou and Damian Penaud did not appear, although three executives of the France team. With these three absences, the coach loses the experience of more than 200 selections in total. Logically, Galthié was questioned by L’Équipe about this decision.
“The rule of this game and of the selection is room for those who deserve it,” explained the Blues coach. They deserved it enormously and they will surely deserve it in the future. I am sure they will come back with us. » Thus, he assures not to give up on Alldritt, Fickou or Penaud, nor on what they have already accomplished with the jersey marked with the rooster.
Potential to develop
Galthié pointed out the relative interest in selecting them so as not to play them and only using them as opponents during training. If he knows that it is “difficult to remove a player with 50 caps” from the group, he also wanted to test new elements.
The coach cited Théo Attissogbe, Kalvin Gourgues, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Nicolas Depoortere, Yoram Moefana and Lenni Nouchi as potential players to develop. “We must also be open to other potentials that I feel are as strong as those I launched in 2020,” Galthié clarified. They “evolve alongside, emerge, push, grow and are convincing in the club. We have to make decisions that will allow them to wear the jersey, give them the opportunity to get into the dynamic. »
