Six Nations: France set up bruising battle of the back rows in Le Crunch
England’s crucial Six Nations clash with France at Twickenham in two weeks is set for a monumental back row battle with Francois Cros expected to come into Les Bleus’ starting XV.
Cros is expected to replace Anthony Jelonch in the starting line up after the Toulouse flanker suffered a serious knee injury (ACL) in his side’s 32-21 win over Scotland on Sunday.
The back row had already been subbed off for a Head Injury Assessment following a tackle that handed Scottish forward Grant Gilchrist a red card but was then injured minutes after returning to the field.
France bulking up
“We don’t have good news: the first diagnosis is a rupture of the inner cruciate ligament,” Galthie said.
“You know the protocol for this type of injury. It takes almost six months between the surgery and the rehabilitation. That’s also why our joy is moderate this evening.”
Sources in France have told Morning Wire that the expectation is for Les Bleus to make minimal changes to their starting 23, for what’s known as Le Crunch, despite the injury.
France Rugby head coach Fabien Galthie has chosen to retain much of his squad for this weekend’s Six Nations fallow week before Les Bleus take on England at Twickenham on 11 March.
The French manager has released just four of the starting 23 who beat Scotland 32-21 in Paris on Sunday.
Star bench fly-half Matthieu Jalibert will return to Bordeaux ahead of their game against Brive while hooker Gaetan Barlot, flanker Sekou Macalou and scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud, too, will head back to their clubs.
Assumptions
Assuming the fallow week goes as planned and there are no severe injuries in camp, Francois Cros is expected to take Jelonch’s spot in the starting back row with Macalou remaining on the bench – making the call to return Macalou to Stade Francais for the week a curious one.
France deployed a replacement split of six forwards and two backs against Scotland but could revert to five forwards and three backs at Twickenham, negating the need to bring a new face into camp.
If that were to be the case, south west London could be decided by back row dominance.
England are expected to continue with Lewis Ludlam, Jack Willis and Alex Dombrandt in their pack while a back row of Cros, Charles Ollivon and Gregory Alldritt would aim to put Les Bleus on the front foot.
Should England win in two weeks, defending champions France will be out of contention for the Six Nations Championship. If France win then England are likely to be out of contention unless Scotland beat Ireland.
In the other round four match, Wales travel to Italy looking for their first win of the 2023 Six Nations Championship.