The announcement of Fabien Galthié for the tour in Japan was made in two stages. The coach of the XV of France had first hinted on Sunday that the 19 French players he had taken under his thumb to outclass England with the Barbarians (21-52) would be on the summer tour. In a second step, Monday June 20, the coach completed this list with 21 other names. In total, there will be 17 neophytes to face the Cherry Blossoms July 2 and 9
Summer Tour 2022
Here is the list of the 42 players who will fly to Japan on Wednesday ✈️ #XVdeFrance #Don’tDoXV #JAPFRA pic.twitter.com/EwIwRy5BAO
– France Rugby (@FranceRugby) June 20, 2022
Among the first 19 selected, the young prodigy of Racing, Nolann Le Garrec, was perhaps the most anticipated. Announced as a future great, the young scrum half (20 years old) will take his first steps in blue. The native of Vannes will be the first Breton to wear the jersey of the XV of France.
Le Garrec will be accompanied, in the Land of the Rising Sun, by his teammates Virimi Vakatawa, Max Spring and Yoan Tanga. Pierre Bourgarit, Dany Priso and Thomas Lavault will represent the Rochelais. The Toulonnais Charles Ollivon, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Christopher Tolofua and Louis Carbonel are as expected of the game, just like the Clermontois Damien Penaud, Tani Vili and Sipili Falatea.
Le Pau and future Rochelais Antoine Hastoythe Lyonnais Baptiste Couilloud and Dylan Cretin, Toulouse’s Dorian Aldegheri, the Parisian Sekou Macalou and the Bordelais Matthieu Jalibert, who should lead the game at the opening, complete this list of 19. Note also the presence of the only Pro D2 player summoned to the Baa-Baas, the Oyoman Thomas Laclayat.
Unsurprisingly, Fabien Galthié has therefore chosen to rest certain executive players, exhausted by a long season, such as the Toulousains Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand and the people of Rochelle Gregory Alldritt and Uini Atonio. Other potential holders but exempt from touring, Gabin Villière and Paul Willemse will take the opportunity to heal their injury (in the ankle for the first, in the knee for the second).
These absences obviously make the game of newcomers, whom Galthié intends to test at the highest level during these matches against the Cherry Blossoms. It is in this spirit that the coach also called Matis Perchaud (Bayonne), Demba Bamba (Lyon), Thomas Jolmes (Bordeaux-Begles), Remi Picquette (La Rochelle), Swan Rebbadj (Toulon), Bastien Vergnes Taillefer (Bordeaux-Begles), Ibrahim Diallo (Racing), Matthias Haddad (La Rochelle), Matthis Lebel (Toulouse), Remy Baget (Bayonne) and Romain Buros (Bordeaux-Begles). These players, most of whom are not yet very well known to the general public, will be eager to flourish in the land of cherry blossoms this summer.