Australian quarantine puts clamp on Galthie

Seven weeks after France’s Six Nations’ campaign ended with that late, late loss to Scotland at Stade de France, Les Bleus’ coaching team reunited for the first time at Marcoussis.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

On the agenda at the two-day working seminar early this week: a brief at-a-distance review of the Championship, and initial team planning for July’s three-Test tour of Australia – the first non-Six Nations opponents France have faced since the 2019 World Cup.

End-of-season international tours are always a head-scratcher for staff. This one has been complicated further by the pandemic.

Les Bleus are required to quarantine for a fortnight on arrival in Australia – a fact that has already altered the schedule of the tour. The first match has been delayed a week to July 7 which in turn has concertina’d the entire tour into three matches in 11 days.

They will isolate and train in a strict health bubble, and undergo daily testing.

It is widely expected that a number of Galthie favorites will be rested, at the end of permanently congested and continually shifting Covid-hit domestic, European and international campaigns.

Captain Charles Ollivon, perpetual go-forward merchant Gregory Alldritt, scrum-half, and Interior Minister Antoine Dupont, and captain of defense Gael Fickou are among those expected to be sitting at home when the France squad boards the plane Down Under.

And it has emerged that the squad – due in part to Australia’s quarantine requirements – will not include players involved in the Top 14 final on June 25.

It’s a logical decision, as those players would not be available for selection until the third and final Test on July 17. But it could mean numerous big French names may be absent from the tour, especially if two of Toulouse, Racing 92, Toulon or La Rochelle make it to the Stade de France showpiece.