A third-string French touring party that has been rocked by multiple scandals on their tour of South America but must now clear their heads to face off against a Uruguay side desperate to impress in front of their supporters.
France continue their tour of South America with a fixture against a Uruguayan outfit that will be looking to make the most of a rare Test match on home soil in top opposition.
Fabien Galthie – Head Coach of France during the training session of Team France at Stade de France (Pic – Hugo Pfeiffer/Icon Sport)
The hosts were one of the darlings of last year’s World Cup and they will be looking to enhance their standing on the rugby world order by giving a youthful French outfit a real run for their money here.
No big guns, no problem! That was the case for the French last weekend as a very inexperienced Le Bleu outfit registered a solid 13-28 win over Argentina in Mendoza.
The French had come into the fixture as underdogs with a number of their star players left behind in France to recover from a long domestic club season. With the likes of Gael Fickou and Romain Ntamack not travelling, many pundits – myself included – thought the French would have a tough time getting one over Los Pumas.
One of the key men for the French was scrum-half Baptiste Serin who bagged the game’s first try and managed things brilliantly from the base. Another man who stood out for the French was Munster centre Antoine Frisch, who dotted down for a try of his own just after half-time.
A lot of the squad who performed so well against Argentina are unlikely to feature in this midweek clash, however, as they have another date with the Argentines this Saturday.
Instead, we’re likely to see a load of the 19 uncapped players that France brought on tour with them.
Of course, they have been rocked by two scandals. Huga Aurdou and Oscar Jegou – both of whom played against Argentina – have been detained by authorities in the South American country over alleged sexual assault.
This incident came hot off the heels of Melvyn Jaminet being released from the squad after a video of him making racist remarks emerged on social media.
They may not be facing a near full-strength French outfit, but Uruguay will be well up for this one. They had a very tidy World Cup campaign with arguably their best performance at the global showpiece coming against this weekend’s opponents, going down 27-12.
This French side is a very new look one and they may struggle with link-up play during this fixture.
Uruguay are also an ever-improving side and I can see them giving the French a real run for their money on Wednesday evening.
