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nations-championship
Two weeks into next month’s Nations Championship, Fabien Galthié was forced to make four changes to the The Blues squad following injuries to Fabien Brau-Boirie from Section Paloise, Antoine Hastoy from Stade Rochelais and Karl Sorin from Union Bordeaux Bègles’ Marco Gazzotti.
The four were the latest injury victims after another intense round in the Top 14, prompting the France head coach to call up UBB’s Nicolas Depoortère, Castres Louis Le Brun, Thomas Laclayat from Section Paloise and Anthony Jelonch from Stade Toulouse as substitutes.
Among the reported injuries, Fabien Brau-Boirie is the most worrying; the center left the field clutching his knee and is now awaiting further tests to confirm the extent of the damage.
Governing Six Nations the champions have already been hit by a wave of injuries to key players; in particular, Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Demba Bamba have been ruled out from November due to serious injuries that will keep them out until the end of December.
Jalibert, who played a vital role in the Six Nations and the July Nations Championship window, picked up the injury on September 20 when UBB faced Stade Français with 14 minutes to play in the half.
As for the new faces, Castres fly-half Louis Le Brun is one of the players yet to earn a cap for France.
Depoortère was in July’s traveling squad but only made a 14-minute cameo against All black people before missing the next two games. The Bordeaux center now has another chance to earn Galti’s trust a year on from the Rugby World Cup.
As for Jelonch, the back-rower, he started in four of France’s five Six Nations matches, but after a poor performance against Scotland, he was dropped from the squad and ended up missing the southern hemisphere tour and Japan in July.
Finally, prop Thomas Laclayat has not been called up to the French national team since November 2025; now he has the chance to add to his three appearances.
France will host Fiji on the first weekend of July and then face four-time world champions South Africa on the 14th before completing the pool stages Nations Championship against Argentina on the 21st
They currently lead the Northern Hemisphere group with 12 points, and despite the absences they have had to deal with, Galti’s aim is to reach the final of the competition in his debut year.
