Major omissions from provisional France Nations Championship squad as Penaud re-called

Fabien Galthié has named a 39-man provisional France squad for the Nations Championship, with the final group to be confirmed by Wednesday, June 24 ahead of a southern hemisphere tour that takes in Tests against New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

The headline story is the return of Damian Penaud. France’s all-time leading try-scorer was notably absent for the Six Nations earlier this year, but the Bordeaux-Bègles man is back in the fold after a prolific club season in which he scored 11 tries in 29 appearances, often from centre, where he was deployed following Nicolas Depoortere’s injury.

His international tally now stands at 40 tries, including a double against South Africa in November.

Penaud is one of 12 Bordeaux players in the squad. The double European champions missed out on the Top 14 play-offs, which has freed up a sizeable contingent, Matthieu Jalibert and captain Maxime Lucu among them, for what shapes up as a demanding three-Test tour.

The most conspicuous absentee is Louis Bielle-Biarrey. The 23-year-old has been in sensational form, scoring 34 tries in 31 matches this season, but Galthié has made the deliberate call to rest him with the autumn internationals [Argentina, Fiji and South Africa] firmly in his sights.

There are no Toulouse players in the group, with the Top 14 finalists unavailable for now. Antoine Dupont and Thomas Ramos are expected to be rested regardless, though some reinforcements from the club could yet be added before the squad departs.

FORWARDS: Moses Alo-Emile (Stade français), Hugo Auradou (Pau), Demba Bamba (Racing 92), Pierre Bochaton (UBB), Esteban Capilla (Bayonne), Sipili Falatea (UBB), Marko Gazzotti (UBB), Loïs Guérois (Castres), Mickaël Guillard (Lyon), Oscar Jegou (La Rochelle), Maxime Lamothe (UBB), Lucas Martin (Bayonne), Barnabé Massa (Clermont), Temo Matiu (UBB), Régis Montagne (Clermont), Boris Palu (UBB), Jefferson Poirot (UBB), Emerick Setiano (Bayonne), Tom Staniforth (Castres), Tevita Tatafu (Bayonne), Killian Tixeront (Clermont), Reda Wardi (La Rochelle)

BACKS: Christian Ambadiang (Castres), Théo Attissogbe (Pau), Fabien Brau-Boirie (Pau), Nicolas Depoortere (UBB), Mathis Ferté (Toulon), Théo Forner (Perpignan), Emilien Gailleton (Pau), Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang (Pau), Antoine Hastoy (La Rochelle), Matthieu Jalibert (UBB), Baptiste Jauneau (Clermont), Louis Le Brun (Castres), Nolann Le Garrec (La Rochelle), Maxime Lucu (UBB), Yoram Moefana (UBB), Damian Penaud (UBB), Max Spring (Racing 92)