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Road to the Six Nations: Jedrasiak and Macalou get France call-ups

Inpho
With international squads largely finalised ahead of the autumn internationals, there was plenty of points to prove on the field this weekend in the Premiership, PRO14 and Top14.

With international squads largely finalised ahead of the autumn internationals, there was plenty of points to prove on the field this weekend in the Premiership, PRO14 and Top14.

We took a look at some of the big names who stood out for their club sides this weekend across all six nations.

FRANCE

France have made two changes to their squad for their autumn international against New Zealand with Paul Jedrasiak and Sekou Macalou joining Guy Novès’ group.

Lyon’s Felix Lambey has withdrawn through injury, to be replaced by 24-year-old Jedrasiak of Clermont Auvergne as he looks to add to his seven caps with Les Bleus.

Meanwhile uncapped 22-year-old Macalou from Stade Français comes in for Fulgence Ouedraogo, who pulled out of Montpellier’s win at Pau. Macalou is a former France Under-20s international.

There was better news for Novès though as Wesley Fofana came through 80 minutes in Clermont’s 33-10 victory over Stade Français after a nine-month lay-off with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Experienced Louis Picamoles scored one of three tries as Montpellier returned from back-to-back European defeats with a 22-16 win over Pau.

Camille Chat, in the extended France squad for the second Test, crossed twice for Racing 92 as they overcame a red card to wing Virimi Vakatawa to beat Bordeaux-Bègles 29-13. The Racing winger will appear before a disciplinary committee this week to establish whether he will be available for the first Test against New Zealand in a fortnight.

Elsewhere 21-year-old fly-half Anthony Belleau celebrated his call-up to Novès’ squad to face New Zealand with a try in Toulon’s 41-24 win over Brive.

Francois Trinh-Duc retained the kicking duties and knocked over four conversions from six attempts as well as a third-minute penalty at the Stade Felix Mayol, with the pair combining in midfield, Trinh-Duc at ten and Belleau at inside centre.

ENGLAND

Fly-halves George Ford and Owen Farrell both demonstrated their form in the final weekend of Premiership action before they pull on their international jerseys with controlling performances for Leicester Tigers and Saracens.

On Saturday, Farrell racked up a try and 14 points from the kicking tee as he guided his side to a comfortable 44-13 win over struggling London Irish.

Farrell has featured at inside centre for the majority of Eddie Jones’ England reign with Ford showing why he’s the man in possession of the number ten jersey on Sunday.

The Leicester Tiger kicked a perfect six from six at Kingston Park to see off Newcastle Falcons as well as an inch perfect crossfield kick which saw Jonny May cross for his seventh try of the campaign.

“We were very inaccurate on the day and quite indisciplined but Ford was my man of the match by far,” Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards said. “He controlled the game from start to finish.”

May is alongside Farrell and Ford in England’s squad for the autumn internationals and has been in scintillating form since his move from Gloucester with scrum half Ben Youngs also crossing.

Elsewhere, Danny Care scored his 50th Premiership Rugby try for Harlequins as he and England apprentice Marcus Smith crossed in their 41-35 win over Worcester Warriors.

And in the pack, Joe Launchbury, who missed out on the British & Irish Lions tour last summer, was praised by Wasps director of rugby Dai Young after his side’s 38-22 win over Northampton Saints.

WALES

Wales hopeful Steff Evans made his case for selection this winter in fine style to drag Scarlets out of reach of Cardiff Blues with two crucial interventions.

First, he slotted a perfect grubber kick through for Jonathan Evans to collect and dot down before dancing through the Blues defence for the bonus point try.

Fellow Scarlet Hadleigh Parkes celebrated his Wales call-up with a try after just six minutes as the Scarlets came out 30-17 winners at Parc y Scarlets.

Meanwhile, Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones was man-of-the-match for Ospreys in their 28-14 win over Dragons, playing a vital part in Sam Parry’s first half try.

Wyn Jones made nine tackles in the loose and made 32 metres in attack to show Warren Gatland his form ahead of Wales’ matches against Australia, Georgia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Elsewhere, Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall poured praise on Liam Williams as he continued his great start to life at Allianz Park with a try and an assist on Saturday.

“He (Williams) has perhaps surprised a few people just how good an all-round a player he is,” he said. “He’s unbelievable in the air but does score tries and is aggressive, physical and a brilliant defender.”

Finally, Owen Williams showed nerves of steel to get the better of his international team-mate Rhys Priestland in the West Country derby with an 88th-minute conversion.

SCOTLAND

Blair Kinghorn may have missed out on Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad for this autumn but that won’t stop him banging on the door with his Edinburgh performances.

The 20-year-old has been tipped for international recognition sooner rather than later by his head coach Richard Cockerill after helping Edinburgh to a 24-13 win over Benetton.

Kinghorn played his part in all three Edinburgh tries – two of which were scored by Dougie Fife – on his 50th appearance for his club side.

“He’s an exceptionally talented player and we just need to get that out of him on a consistent basis,” Cockerill said. “We know what he can do with ball in hand and it’s outstanding, world class at times.

“We just need to keep chipping away with his maturity around his playing, keep encouraging him and make sure week in, week out he’s doing that for us.

“If he does that I have no doubt he’ll get opportunities at Test level.”

Stuart Hogg continued his return from injury by scoring one of seven tries for Glasgow Warriors as they eased passed Southern Kings with a 43-13 win.

The full-back made an astonishing 120 metres at Scotstoun as the Warriors maintained their 100 per cent win record in the PRO14 after seven games.

ITALY

Zebre returned to league action this weekend and were seconds away from a third win of the season only for a Fred Zeilinga to deny them the points.

The Cheetahs snatched a 24-23 victory at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi to deny Zebre who saw Italy international Carlo Canna in fine form with the boot.

Canna kicked three penalties with Italy under-20s Matteo Minozzi and 27-year-old hooker Oliviero Fabiani both crossing as the Italians led 23-14.

IRELAND

In Ireland, Luke McGrath scored a brace of tries for Leinster as they claimed the bragging rights in their interpro derby against Ulster – their first win in Belfast since 2014.

McGrath came off the bench with 56 minutes played and scored his first try just three minutes later as he made 34 metres in his short but crucial period on the pitch.

The scrum-half missed out on the man-of-the-match award though after a majestic display from captain Sean O’Brien who made 30 metres in attack and 11 tackles in defence.

“It was great to be back and a nice one to come back to,” O’Brien said.

“It was a very important win for us away from home – it’s a very difficult place to come for us, we knew what we were going to be up against.”