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Munster's Antoine Frisch lays Test allegiances on the table


Antoine Frisch of Munster celebrates with supporters after their side's victory in the United Rugby Championship Semi-Final match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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Munster’s Antoine Frisch has made his international rugby intentions clear in an a revealing interview with L’Equipe in France.

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Despite being part of Munster’s squad and having the potential to play for Ireland, Frisch was called up to France’s Six Nations squad, a move that has apparently confirmed his aspirations to play for France and not Ireland.

“I have been in contact with Fabien Galthié for a long time, and this contact has never been interrupted,” Frisch stated, highlighting his ongoing dialogue with the French head coach. “From the moment I was called into the France group, it became very clear to me. I want to play for France.”

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Realistically his decision could have major impact on whether or not remains at Munster. With his allegiances now pinned to the mast, it means the IRFU will look far less favourably on keeping on the books at Munster as a defacto non-Irish qualified player.

As first reported by RugbyPass, this decision comes amidst interest from Top 14 clubs Toulon and Montpellier, who are considering bringing the Munster outside centre back to France, even though he has a year remaining on his contract with the Irish province.

Antoine Frisch

Born in Fontainebleau and a graduate of Loughborough University, Frisch moved to Munster in 2022 from Bristol Bears and has since become a key player, scoring four tries in 15 appearances this season.

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Despite being called into the France squad, Frisch did not play in the recent match against England, and therefore remains uncapped and still eligible for both countries.

The centre even qualifies for England through his mother, although playing in either Ireland or France would make him ineligible to represent Steve Borthwick’s side.

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NoLongerARuck 43 minutes ago
Can the Wallabies evoke the spirit of 2021 to rock the world champions?

The Wallabies lineout is one area where they have maintained high standards throughout the years despite dropping to below 40% in term of win percentage. The Boks didnt get tested there against NZ and I expect Aus to certainly challenge there. This is as good an opportunity that Aus will get against the Boks. Its a new team with plenty of inexperience but Rassie has kept an experienced core for the lineout but Grobbelaars throwing can go awry when under pressure as we have seen in big matches for the Bulls. The Wallabies backline is also stacked with quality and theres some power on the bench too. For the first time in a long time the Wallabies have some depth to call upon and real quality options across the park. Even so this is a different Bok team than the one that exited covid. That team hadnt played in front of a crowd since 2019, had 18 months apart and barely had any cohesion. Their game plan was literally kick scrum and maul throughout the Lions series and the Argentina tests and they were very much a team that regressed since 2019. They had to recover their game and recover their conditioning and that was top of mind for coaches. Having said that the team that runs out this weekend has several green players with few minutes behind them in the past 2 months. They should be short of a gallop. Sure they have been training as a shadow team against the first team Boks but training is no substitute for game time. I expect them to be rusty and to lack cohesion and thats why this a good opportunity for an Australian team building momentum.

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