SECOND ROW
4. Thibaud Flament (France and Toulouse)
5. Sam Whitelock (New Zealand and Crusaders/Pau)
There were plenty of contenders with Paul Willemse’s recent injury, with Toulouse’s Thibaud Flament being our pick to pack dowm the scrum in the number four jersey. All Blacks mainstay Brodie Retallick just misses out on the squad, as we have opted for Flament from France, and Sam Whitelock of the All Blacks to partner-up in our second row.
South African-born Willemse is amongst the hardest hitters in international rugby, and will be missed by Les Bleus come the home soil competition, with Flament an appropriate replacement. Sam Whitelock is a proven winner, and can bring the invaluable experience of two Rugby World Cup titles to our ‘All Bleus’ squad, for the 2023 campaign. Back to reality, and Whitelock is on the cusp of immortality. The most capped All Black is eyeing up his third Rugby World Cup triumph (after 2011 and 2015), to become the only player in history to win a hat-trick of Web Ellis trophies.
BACK ROW
6. Charles Ollivon – (France and Toulon)
7. Sam Cane (New Zealand and Chiefs)
8. Gregory Alldritt (France and La Rochelle)
A slight switch up to the norm for our blindside flanker, as France’s Charles Ollivon is simply too good to leave out of the starting XV. Normally an openside flanker for Galthie’s side, the Toulon man has in fact made 20 combined appearances for club and country in the six jersey. All Blacks captain Sam Cane gets preferential treatment for the openside spot, in what makes up a formidable flanking partnership.
It might as well have come down to a coin-toss for the number eight jersey, that’s how close it was between La Rochelle’s Gregory Alldritt, and Hurricanes back-row Ardie Savea. However, following the All Blacks’ recent record loss against South Africa, and France going from strength to strength with World Cup warm-up wins over Scotland and Australia, Alldritt gets the nod for the starting spot.
REPLACEMENTS
We have opted for a traditional five-three split between forwards and backs, so don’t expect to see a forward’s heavy bench like the Springboks have recently favoured. The replacements can be further divided into a second five-three split, between All Blacks and France players, with Ian Foster’s men taking a larger share of the seats on the bench.
Due to the unbelievable calibre of combined talent in the starting XV, some regular starters are in for a rare taste of the substitutes bench for our ‘All Bleus’ squad. Aaron Smith drops down with Antoine Dupont opted as our first choice scrum half, with Ardie Savea similarly relegated, with Alldritt preferred at the back of the scrum.
16. Julien Marchand (France and Toulouse)
17. Jean Baptiste-Gros (France and Toulon)
18. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (New Zealand and Blues)
19. Scott Barrett (New Zealand and Crusaders)
20. Ardie Savea (New Zealand and Hurricanes)
21. Aaron Smith (New Zealand and Highlanders/Toyota Verblitz)
22. Matthieu Jalibert (France and Bordeaux-Begles)
23. Damien McKenzie (New Zealand and Chiefs)