France's record try scorer Damian Penaud suffers injury setback

Damian Penaud’s Test comeback has been put on hold after only 40 minutes with the news that the Bordeaux-Begles star will miss the remainder of France’s July Tests.

Penaud, who was left out of France’s triumphant Six Nations-winning squad, returned to the fold for last weekend’s Nations Championship defeat to New Zealand and made an immediate impact by scoring his 41st Test try after just 70 seconds.

However, the 29-year-old only lasted until half-time after picking up an injury to his calf.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) announced on Monday that Penaud would miss the games against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday and Japan in Tokyo on July 18.

“He felt a tightness in his calf, he didn’t want to risk a tear,” head coach Fabien Galthie told reporters after the loss to the All Blacks.

He was replaced by fly-half Antoine Hastoy as Galthie re-jigged his back-line.

Due to a combination of illness, injury and non-selection, Penaud has only played seven of the last 22 Tests for France.

The FFR have yet to announce a replacement for Penaud in the squad, with specialist sports newspaper Midi Olympique  claiming on Monday starting fly-half Matthieu Jalibert could move to full-back with Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack coming into the side at 10.

Full-back Max Spring is a major doubt to face the Wallabies with Olympic sevens champions Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Theo Forner, as well as Toulon’s Mathis Ferte, the other back-three options.