Six Nations Tickets: New faces appear as France begins preparations

France has already started training for the Guinness Six Nations this week, with Fabian Galthie’s side hoping to get lucky in the tournament for the third time. Under the French boss, the Les Bleus have come second in 2020 and 2021, while also losing the Autumn Nations Cup final in extra time. Six Nations Rugby Fans can buy Six Nations Tickets from our website.

Galthie, France has already started preparing for the Six Nations this week

It is not the first time Galthie has found his team missing out on a number of key players, with a positive coronavirus test and injuries forcing 11 changes to his original 42-man roster.

That includes five of the seven starters who defeated New Zealand in the Autumn Nations series, as well as starting centre-back Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack.

The good news, however, is that if these players pass a negative test this week, they can still compete for the start of the championship.

The five players who tested positive are from Toulouse, along with Cyril Baille in the centre back and Francois Cros and Anthony Jelonch in the back. As a result, they all stayed with the club. So when it was revealed on Tuesday that Toulouse had just one more Covid-19 case, the signs of some of these players returning to the French squad looked good.

This could come after the current training camp in Carpiagne - a week with the French Foreign Legion on the outskirts of Marseille.

To house the team, veterans had to adapt their gyms to the demands of the football team. But Galthie and the Foreign Legion are hopeful that shared values of responsibility, teamwork, solidarity and courage will make the week fruitful for both sides.

Meanwhile, there will likely be some absent players available for Toulouse this weekend, with the main interest centre on DuPont. The scrum has not played rugby at halftime since the European game in Cardiff on December 11, with a knee injury hampering his progress ahead of the recent Covid match.

DuPont returns and both Maxime Lucu and Baptiste Couilloud are more mature

For the men's world player of the year, a round of 14 games against Racing 92 may be just what it takes ahead of the opener against Italy at the Stade de France on February 6.

As mentioned, this isn't the first time Galthie has faced the lack of a full level to choose from. In the Autumn Nations Cup, the number of matches players can play is limited, making trips to Twickenham mainly for the second-tier group.

Similarly, last summer's Australian Tour didn't make the top 14 finalists, and some other players didn't rest after a gruelling season.

La Rochelle's flanker Paul Boudehent, Lyon supporter Jerome Rey and Mont-de-Marsan half-court gladiator Leo Coly are three of their first French appearances.

The most notable name is certainly the latter. Coly (above) follows in the footsteps of fullback Melvyn Jaminet and was called up before even making the top 14.

His presence came as no surprise, he has since waited for his second flight and won his second consecutive French world title in the age group in 2019.

If DuPont returns and both Maxime Lucu and Baptiste Couilloud are more mature, Coly may have to wait for the first cap. But as we've seen with Jaminet, now the number one pick after a big splash in Australia, Galthie has never been afraid to trust players who have chosen a different path to the top.

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