Nice (AFP)

Raka and Cros debut, return of Ollivon: for the first match of preparation for the World Cup on Saturday against Scotland in Nice, the coach of XV of France Jacques Brunel decided Thursday to launch or restart some players.

+ Raka, finally in the big bath

This time he's lucky. In the radar of the Blues for almost a year, the winger of Fijian origin Alivereti Raka should make the Allianz Riviera his big international debut, postponed at least twice while waiting for his naturalization (during tests last fall) and then a wrist injury (Six Nations Tournament).

Since then, he has not recovered the explosiveness that allowed him to punch the defenses with Clermont. "Everyone knows his qualities and his efficiency, he showed them some time ago (...) We expect him to be as effective in the French team as club" commented Brunel.

+ Lopez, the return

Raka will have ahead of him his ASM counterpart Camille Lopez, who will also cut a big card: after losing his position as lead opener after the Twickenham debacle in February in the Tournament (44-8), he will sees a new opportunity at the expense of Romain Ntamack. Four years after being discarded from the previous World Cup.

"You've talked a lot about Lopez, but the facts have shown that even though he had a bit of a tough time during the tournament, it was not unacceptable," Brunel said. Two facts precisely: his criticism against the staff after the English shipwreck, and his annoyance of being entered for only a handful of seconds in closing the Tournament against Italy, for his return.

"We have chosen it knowingly, we will try to put it in the best conditions, after the preparation matches (again Scotland, August 24 in Edinburgh, then Italy on the 30th at the Stade de France) will decide of the order of things "added Brunel. Which preferred to revive Lopez rather than refine the automatisms of the hinge Ntamack-Dupont (incumbent Saturday), and entrusted the captaincy Jefferson Poirot in the absence of Guilhem Guirado, touched ribs and spared.

+ A third line unpublished

Another revenant will have the opportunity to stand out against the XV thistle: Charles Ollivon, whose last of the six selections dates back to February 2017. The blame for an injury to the scapula that has rotten his last two years. Able to evolve N.8, the Toulonnais will be aligned to the position of flanker in a third complementary line, but the common experience nonexistent.

Ollivon will indeed start alongside Toulouse's François Cros, who is also a substitute in the group of 37 (reduced to 31 by 2 September) and launched in the big bath like Raka, and N.8 Grégory Alldritt (5 sel. a tenure). A composition that Brunel partly justified by the absence on injury of Wenceslas Lauret and Yacouba Camara, and the convalescence of Louis Picamoles (pubis), replacing. But "we took players to evaluate them, it was absolutely necessary to put them on the field." We took advantage of all this context (the absences in the third line) to test them "said Brunel, who should also offer their first capes to Hooker of Toulouse Peato Mauvaka and the right pillar of Toulon Emerick Setiano (substitutes).

+ Broken dream for Doumayrou

He will not see Japan for sure: Geoffrey Doumayrou has withdrawn because of an injury to an Achilles tendon. The name of his replacement should be announced in the day (Vakatawa?), Which will not be Mathieu Bastareaud, ousted from the list and whose eventual return was swept Thursday by Brunel.

The absence of Doumayrou is a blow to the player and coaching, as the Rochelais was one of his key pieces, especially in defense. Saturday, the pair of centers will be formed of Wesley Fofana and Gael Fickou, aligned together for the first time since the ... World Cup 2015, against Romania.

© 2019 AFP