Can French ‘third string’ spring more surprises? | James Harrington

Against seemingly evermounting coronavirus odds, France's July tour of Australia is still set for Test takeoff – it may not quite have passed the abort point yet, but it's close.

Sydney was supposed to host Wednesday's opener against Dave Rennie's Wallabies who, like France, are in rebuild mode for the next World Cup. But because of a Covid-19 outbreak there, Rugby Australia (RA) last week switched the venue to Brisbane.

Then, a cluster prompted a lockdown in the Queensland capital, leading to concern the game may have to go ahead behind closed doors. That would have been a financial disaster for hosts RA.

That lockdown ended yesterday, after five days, and local authorities have permitted a capacity crowd for the match at Suncorp Stadium. Cue, no doubt, sighs of relief all-round at RA.

That was just the latest headache for tour organisers on both sides. Highlevel discussions over what Australia's strict 14-day quarantine measures actually meant went on, it seemed, until the last minute. In the end, group training was allowed – which was nice for an international rugby squad preparing for a match two weeks after they landed.

But they're all trained-up with nowhere to go. They have been denied the usual touring side pressure-release valves for health reasons. It's been day after day of training ground, hotel, training ground, hotel. We'll see on Wednesday if all work and no play has made Les Bleus a dull side.

Attack coach Laurent Labit has talked-up the ‘experience' of the 14-day isolation. “The inconvenience of quarantine has been a positive,” he said.

“We've had two weeks together before the first Test, whereas usually you arrive and play the following week.

“We are together 24 hours a day at the hotel: it allows us to talk to the players… to have discussions with them. These 14 days have been beneficial before the first match. Afterwards, we know very well what awaits us.”

Then there's the France squad to consider. The tour's agreed schedule meant Fabien Galthie could not select players from either of the Top 14's finalists – the 42-plus-staff had flown out on the Monday before the showpiece match on June 25.

He had already decided to rest a number of players, and a spate of lateseason injuries deprived him of yet more including Charles Ollivon, Gael Fickou – who may have been allowed a break, anyway – Camille Chat, and Baptiste Serin.

So, France headed to Australia with 22 uncapped players in their squad.

They lost one of them at Dubai – Alexandre Fischer – because of a comically avoidable passport issue. Because of Covid restrictions, he has not been replaced.

The media in Australia was quick to label the French tourists as ‘third string'. It's true that it's missing numerous well-known players. There's no Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Gregory Alldritt, Julian Marchant, Cyril Baille, Virimi Vakatawa, Ollivon, or Fickou.

We've been here before, haven't we? Remember the Autumn Nations Cup? Remember how that panned out?

Remember the 2020 Six Nations, when Galthie – then newly installed as head coach – ripped apart the established French rugby order with his first selection?

How quickly the effervescent newness of the Galthie-era has become the new normal.

There's no doubt he would have preferred to take a first-choice squad Down Under, to pit his best against a southern hemisphere side for the first time in his tenure. But, with few exceptions that coach's dream doesn't always happen in a contact sport like rugby. Besides, it's a mistake to think this developing France side are ‘third string'.

Tour captain Anthony Jelonch may have only eight international caps, but he has 93 Top 14 outings for Castres under his belt – and he was the only name on Toulouse's shortlist for a player to fill the big boots of the nowretired Jerome Kaino.

And, let's be honest, when their fit, touring half-backs Baptiste Couilloud and Louis Carbonel are routinely in the mix for any France squad.

There's more to the national rugby coaches' job than picking sides for the next match, the next tour. Good ones look to the medium-term future – the World Cup and immediately after – and the long-term future, too.

As Labit said: “These are players that we had already targeted, identified. We work a lot upstream with the staff, especially when we meet the players in their clubs.”

This, then, is the main target of France's 2021 summer tour – identify those players who can step in to the Dupont, or Ntamack, Baille, Marchand, or Fickou-shaped breach, if necessary; who could give Alldritt, Ollivon, or Vakatawa a run for their selection money.

Galthie and his FFR boss Bernard Laporte have made no secret of their 2023 ambitions. This tour is a step along the road, with a squad that has been remodelled by necessity and design. Labit reckons that the first match, on Wednesday, may be a cagey affair as these two developing squads size each other up in Brisbane. But he believes that Les Bleus will play with more freedom in games two and three.

Frankly, it's hard to argue. This is a young and inexperienced France side. It's not, necessarily, a weak one. And ambition, as long as it does not overleap itself, is a powerful motivator.

Finally, something, maybe, for the powers-that-be in England's RFU to consider, after pro rugby there turned in on itself and ring-fenced the topflight Premiership.

The FFR this week confirmed a shake-up of the lower leagues in the men's competitions. The fourth-tier, and officially amateur, Federale 1 will be known now as Nationale 2.

This is more than just a name change. Nationale 2 will have semi-professional status, and is intended to create a tiered path from the amateur competitions to the professional leagues, which now starts at the thirdtier Nationale.

“This adjustment, necessary after the creation of the Nationale division to meet the need for recognition of the semi-professional status of clubs playing in the first federal division, also aims to harmonise and standardise the construction of regional competitions,” the FFR said in its announcement.

JAMES HARRINGTON