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France name 31-man squad for Scotland clash

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Uncapped scrum-half Maxime Lucu has joined Teddy Baubigny, Jonathan Danty and Yoram Moefana in being called up to the 31-man France squad for the first time this Championship ahead of next weekend’s Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland.

Uncapped scrum-half Maxime Lucu has joined Teddy Baubigny, Jonathan Danty and Yoram Moefana in being called up to the 31-man France squad for the first time this Championship ahead of next weekend’s Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland.

A number of France players and staff who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week are now self-isolating, and thus not included in the group.

Baptiste Serin would seem to be in line to start at scrum-half for Les Bleus but Bordeaux-Begles No.9 Lucu could also make his international debut, while his club teammate Moefana and fellow centre Danty return after featuring in the Autumn Nations Cup.

Racing 92 hooker Baubigny is the other new face in the group but an additional trio of players who were part of training squads earlier in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations are also recalled – props Dorian Aldegheri and Hassane Kolingar and uncapped winger Donovan Taofifenua.

France welcome Scotland to Paris in Round 3 still on course for a first Grand Slam in 11 years and despite being shorn of some of their star names, will take heart from the Autumn Nations Cup campaign, where a much-changed Les Bleus side reached the final and only narrowly lost to England.

After playing Scotland, they travel to Twickenham to face England in Round 4 before concluding the Championship with a potential Grand Slam decider against Wales at the Stade de France.

31-man France squad to face Scotland: Front-rowers: Dorian Aldegheri (7 caps), Uini Atonio (35 caps), Cyril Baille (25 caps), Demba Bamba (14 caps), Teddy Baubigny (1 cap), Pierre Bourgarit (5 caps), Hassane Kolingar (2 caps), Peato Mauvaka (6 caps) Second-rowers: Killian Geraci (2 caps), Bernard Le Roux (46 caps), Romain Taofifenua (22 caps), Paul Willemse (14 caps) Back-rowers: Grégory Alldritt (20 caps), Dylan Cretin (7 caps), Anthony Jelonch (6 caps), Charles Ollivon (20 caps), Cameron Woki (4 caps) Scrum-halves: Sébastien Bezy (8 caps), Maxime Lucu (uncapped), Baptiste Serin (40 caps) Fly-halves: Louis Carbonel (3 caps), Matthieu Jalibert (10 caps) Centres: Pierre-Louis Barassi (2 caps), Jonathan Danty (6 caps), Gaël Fickou (60 caps), Yoram Moefana (2 caps) Wingers: Damian Penaud (19 caps), Donovan Taofifenua (uncapped), Teddy Thomas (24 caps) Full-backs: Anthony Bouthier (6 caps), Brice Dulin (33 caps)