Damian Penaud’s return to the France shirt lasted forty minutes. A starter in Christchurch on Saturday for the opening of the Nations Championship against New Zealand (a 34-32 defeat), the UBB wing left the field at the break with a calf problem. The FFR confirmed on Monday that he is out for the rest of the tour.

A comeback cut short

Left out of the 2026 Six Nations, with the staff preferring Théo Attisogbe on the wing, Damian Penaud had won his place back for the summer tour. It began well, too: as early as the 2nd minute against the All Blacks, the Union Bordeaux-Bègles wing scored his 41st try in 60 caps, reinforcing his status as France’s all-time leading try-scorer.

But troubled by his calf, he was replaced at half-time by Antoine Hastoy. The La Rochelle man came on at full-back, while Max Spring moved out of that position to take over the wing Penaud had vacated. “He has a calf problem. He felt it tighten. He preferred to stop before it turned into a tear,” Fabien Galthié explained in the press conference after France’s narrow defeat (34-32).

Scans confirmed the damage

Tests carried out straight afterwards revealed muscle damage that rules out a short-term return. On Monday, the France staff confirmed Damian Penaud is out of the tour’s final two tests: against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday, then against Japan in Tokyo on 18 July. The wing has left the squad and flown home to France; he will not be replaced.

Galthié has to rebuild his back three

Deprived of his best finisher just as the intensity of the tour steps up, the head coach will have to reorganise his back line for the meeting with the Wallabies. Nor does the list of Bordeaux injuries end there: back-rower Pierre Bochaton, who went off against the All Blacks, has a neck problem and remains a doubt for the rest of the tour.