Toulouse have selected four members of France’s 34-player squad in their team to play Castres on Saturday in the Top 14, including second row duo Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou.
Fabien Galthie named his 34-player squad on Thursday that will assemble next week in preparation for their trip to Wales in round four of the Guinness Six Nations.
Both Flament and Meafou will be part of the squad after missing the first three rounds of the Championship with a foot and knee injury, respectively.
They were not part of the 19-player squad that was retained by France this week during the fallow week though, so they will feature against Castres at the Stade Ernest-Wallon alongside fellow squad members winger Matthis Lebel and centre Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Of the four France squad members in the Toulouse team, Flament is the only one who will start on the bench, as he is returning from a long spell out.
The 145kg Meafou is edging towards his France debut after qualifying at the end of 2023 and, alongside Flament, will help resolve a mini-crisis in the second row for Les Bleus.
????? I ??? ?? I ??? 📋
Voici vos 23 Stadistes pour le derby #STCO demain à ?????? ?????? 🔥
📣 ????? ?? ????? ! 🔴⚫ pic.twitter.com/c64yMMvPh8
— Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) March 1, 2024
Fortunately for Galthie, he has plenty of options to choose from in the lock department despite injuries and suspensions.
This has led to 19-year-old Posolo Tuilagi breaking into the France squad, which means the rugby world is edging closer towards a Meafou – Tuilagi second row partnership, which will be just shy of 300kg.
France Squad
Forwards
ABADIE Esteban (RC Toulon)
ALDEGHERI Dorian (Stade Toulousain)
ALLDRITT Grégory (capitaine) (Stade Rochelais)
ATONIO Uini (Stade Rochelais)
BAILLE Cyril (Stade Toulousain)
BOUDEHENT Paul (Stade Rochelais)
COLOMBE Georges-Henri (Stade Rochelais)
CROS François (Stade Toulousain)
FLAMENT Thibaud (Stade Toulousain)
LAMOTHE Maxime (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
MARCHAND Julien (Stade Toulousain)
MAUVAKA Peato (Stade Toulousain)
MEAFOU Emmanuel (Stade Toulousain)
OLLIVON Charles (RC Toulon)
PRISO Dany (RC Toulon)
ROUMAT Alexandre (Stade Toulousain)
TAOFIFENUA Romain (Lyon OU Rugby)
TAOFIFENUA Sébastien (Lyon OU Rugby)
TUILAGI Posolo (USA Perpignan)
WOKI Cameron (Racing 92)
Backs
BARASSI Pierre-Louis (Stade Toulousain)
BARRÉ Léo (Stade Français)
BIELLE-BIARREY Louis (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
DEPOORTERE Nicolas (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
FICKOU Gaël (Racing 92)
GAILLETON Emilien (Section Paloise)
GIBERT Antoine (Racing 92)
HASTOY Antoine (Stade Rochelais)
LE GARREC Nolann (Racing 92)
LEBEL Matthis (Stade Toulousain)
LUCU Maxime (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
MOEFANA Yoram (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
PENAUD Damian (Union Bordeaux Bègles)
RAMOS Thomas (Stade Toulousain)
