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Antoine Dupont missing for now as Gathie names 33-man France squad

Toulouse's French hooker Julien Marchand and Toulouse's French scrum-half Antoine Dupont react after the French Top14 rugby union semi-final match between Stade Toulousain Rugby (Toulouse) and Racing 92 at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, southern France on June 19, 2026. (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP)
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Fabien Galthie has named his 33-man France squad for their Nations Championship fixtures against the All Blacks, Australia and Japan next month, with try-scoring maestro Louis Bielle-Biarrey not included.

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The 23-year-old, who followed up being crowned the Six Nations player of the Championship with the Investec player of the year accolade, will be given a rest this summer, which had been widely reported, but a number of his Bordeaux-Begles team-mates have been included following their failure to make the Top 14 play-offs.

Scrum-half Maxime Lucu and fly-half Matthieu Jalibert are the headline names included in the squad, as well as a return to the Test fold for their club-mate Damian Penaud, after being overlooked for the Six Nations.

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There is still no space for Gregory Alldritt in the squad, however, who was another surprise omission from Galthie’s squad that retained the Six Nations title.

Of course, the biggest name that is missing from the list is Antoine Dupont’s, but France are yet to announce any players from Toulouse or Montpellier, with the two sides facing each other in the Top 14 final on Saturday at the Stade de France. Despite being a perennial absentee in France’s July squads, it has been widely reported in recent weeks that the scrum-half will travel south with Les Bleus next month, though any players competing in the final will not play the All Blacks in Christchurch.

Fixture
Nations Championship
New Zealand
00:10
4 Jul 26
France
All Stats and Data

France Rugby Squad
Forwards
Moses Alo-Emile
Hugo Auradou
Demba Bamba
Pierre Bochaton
Esteban Capilla
Sipili Falatea
Marko Gazzotti
Mickaël Guillard
Oscar Jegou
Maxime Lamothe
Barnabé Massa
Temo Matiu
Régis Montagne
Boris Palu
Jefferson Poirot
Thomas Staniforth
Tevita Tatafu
Killian Tixeront
Reda Wardi

Backs
Théo Attissogbe
Fabien Brau-Boirie
Nicolas Depoortere
Mathis Ferté
Théo Forner
Émilien Gailleton
Aaron Grandidier Nkanang
Antoine Hastoy
Matthieu Jalibert
Nolann Le Garrec
Maxime Lucu
Yoram Moefana
Damian Penaud
Max Spring

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Comments

4 Comments
S
SB 39 mins ago

This is a much smaller squad than I thought would be picked. Originally Galthie said three or four or five finalists will travel. Now I am thinking up to 9 will, given he normally likes working with 42 to prepare for tests.


Providing they are healthy after the final my guesses are:


Dupont, Ntamack, Mauvaka, Brennan, Flament, Meafou, Cros, Nouchi and Gourgues.


Shame these guys won’t be available for the All Blacks but that’s how the schedule goes.

G
GrandDisse 30 mins ago

Hopefully Verhaeghe as well.

Montpellier’s tightheads would be no brainer if only they didn’t messed up in the past.

C
Conrad 54 mins ago

Does he have a fear of flying? Get the boat, son!

G
GrandDisse 32 mins ago

He has a match to play first

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