Guy Novès has called up a trio of players to join the French squad for a training camp this week with Marvin O’Connor, Kélian Galletier and Julien Rey all heading to Marcoussis.
Montpellier duo O’Connor and Galletier replace Stade Français pair Djibril Camara and Alexandre Flanquart in France’s 30-man elite squad after they withdrew through injury.
And Bordeaux centre Rey replaces Gaël Fickou of Toulouse after his mother passed away on Friday.
Novès will also be without Charles Ollivon, who had initially been called up to replace Bernard le Roux while Scott Spedding is also absent with the duo both suffering injuries in Sunday’s Top 14 clash between Toulon and Clermont.
France take on Samoa, Australia and New Zealand in November as they look to build on a drawn summer series in Argentina before next season’s RBS 6 Nations.
And Novès is keen to use this week to get as many off-field distractions out of the way as possible before focusing his attention on the Autumn Internationals.
He told the Midi Olympique: “We will have a number of meetings and video sessions. We will also use it to carry out a lot of the sacrifices that surround the national team, those of sponsors and partners which can take up the players’ time.
“I prefer to get them out of the way as much as possible now, so that they don’t interfere with the work of the team when they are preparing for a match.”
