The final curtain on an action-packed Saturday afternoon of Autumn Internationals will see France taking on Japan at the Stade de France in Paris.
This match marks the first time that Les Bleus will return to their national stadium since their heart-breaking loss to South Africa in last year's Rugby World Cup.
Match preview
© Imago
French rugby has gone through a rollercoaster ride over the last couple of years, and fans of Les Bleus will be hoping that the Autumn Internationals will be the start of their side getting back to normality.
Fabien Galthie's side put together a run of 14 consecutive wins between the middle of July 2021 and the start of February 2023, a period during which they became the number-one ranked team in the world, before losing to Ireland in the Six Nations last year.
Despite heading into the World Cup as one of the favourites, Les Bleus were ejected from the competition by the Springboks, and since then, they seem to have lost their way a little, losing to Ireland 38-17 and shockingly drawing 13-13 against Italy in this year's Six Nations, while their last outing saw them lose 33-25 to Argentina in Buenos Aires in July.
During the mid-year Tests in South America, France were once again making headlines, but this time it was for incidents off the pitch which led to Melvyn Jaminet being suspended for 34 weeks, while Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou were arrested and are still under investigation for an incident involving at 39-year-old woman in their hotel room.
Fair to say, French union rugby needs a boost in the right direction, and who better to call upon than the maestro Antoine Dupont, who inspired the nation to a gold medal in sevens at the Paris Olympics and is set to resume captaincy of Les Bleus this weekend.
© Imago
Meanwhile, Japan have had a mixed 2024, suffering defeats to England, Georgia and Italy in the July internationals before putting together a very impressive run to the final of the Pacific Nations Cup in September.
During that competition, the Brave Blossoms beat Canada and the USA before booking their place in the showpiece against Fiji by claiming an against-the-odds 49-27 victory over Samoa in the semi-final.
Unfortunately, despite making a dream start to the final, where a piece of individual brilliance from Dylan Riley gave them the lead, the Flying Fijians put in a dominant second-half performance to silence the Higashiosaka crowd and claim a 41-17 victory and their sixth Pacific Nations Cup title.
Eddie Jones's tenure in charge of the Wallabies was nothing short of a nightmare, but he has fared much better since returning to the Brave Blossoms, and while they may struggle to keep up with Dupont and co, a solid performance here will give them huge momentum heading into what they will view as a favourable fixture against Uruguay next week.
France form (all competitions):
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
Japan form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Imago
As mentioned, Dupont is set to return to Galthie's lineup for the first time since the World Cup, but he will do so without his Toulouse halfback partner Romain Ntamack, who is forced to sit out due to a calf injury.
Thomas Ramos has been trusted with kicking duties for this match in Ntamack's absence while Leo Barre will operate at fullback in between Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey on either flank.
The bench sees Julien Marchand, Reda Wardi, and Georges-Henri Colombe offering front-row support in a 5-3 split, while Mickael Guillard and Paul Boudehent are set to cover the back-five and Maxime Lucu is the backup number nine.
Jones has made a total of six personnel changes to the side that ran out in the Pacific Nations Cup final against Fiji but has retained the services of Naoto Saito, who plays his club rugby in France with Toulouse.
Among the new starters for the Brave Blossoms are centre Siosaia Fifita, flanker Kanji Shimokawa, and winger Tomoki Osada, while captain Harumichi Tatekawa will join Saito in the halfback pairing.
France starting lineup: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Alexandre Roumat, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Tevita Tatafu, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Mickael Guillard, 20 Paul Boudehent, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Matthieu Jalibert, 23 Gael Fickou
Japan starting lineup: 15 Malo Tuitama, 14 Jone Naikabula, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa (c), 9 Naoto Saito; 8 Faula Makisi, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 6 Kanji Shimokawa, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Epineri Uluiviti, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Takato Okabe
Replacements: 16 Kenta Masuoka, 17 Yukio Morikawa, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Amato Fakatava, 20 Tevita Tatafu, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Yusuke Kajimura, 23 Takuro Matsunaga
We say: France 42-21 Japan
While Japan have made steady strides forward over the last year under Eddie Jones, the return of Antoine Dupont for France is a massive factor in this match, and we feel that Les Bleus will be far too good for the Brave Blossoms in this one.
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