French set to omit

Penaud, Fickou and Aldritt from their 6 N squad - fucking madness

Fickou I get, but even in his case he looked one of the better backs when we played them in November. Pinaud and Aldritt is nuts.

Agreed - Penaud is a world great and Aldritt up there

Penaud is 29, hardly past it

Fickou has had his moments was better a few years back but brings experience and leadership, he is 31

He clearly has an issue with Aldritt as he left him out at the start of the EOYT only to bring him back after we thumped them. He is 28

Utter bloody madness - he is losing the plot - will be the next on the chopping board

Some strange decisions indeed.

Nobody is better/more important than the TEAM....FIOFO...not saying that's the case, but we are not always privy to the reasons fore these decisions...Roos, Tiaan Strauss back in the day...

I think the coach is losing the plot - after the Bok thumping against 14 men I’m guessing he is under pressure to perform this 6N

Dropping 3 key players is not the way to go about restoring the faith

An average 6N and I reckon he gets the chop and rightly so

Dropping Penaud is on par with Rassie dropping Kolbe or Arendse from the squad, Aldritt with leaving PSDT or Kwagga out

I think leaving Alldritt out is crazy.

These are some of the consistent reasons why France have never won a world cup.

Long may it continue.

They wus robbed in 2011

On Damian Penaud, there's chat that his wife is nearing the end of their pregnancy so he may link up with the squad later, and also seeing as they're playing Ireland first they want someone more reliable on defence and under the highball. I read a stat somewhere on one of the rugby rags that said that Penaud has scored more tries at test level than he has completed tackles.

Jellybear, Moefana and Depoortere (spelling?) are UBB's starting backline 10,12,13 so no need for Fickou. Buros can also cover 13.

Lots of new blood in the backs, rapid AF as well.