France look to bounce back against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday 11 July (9.40am French time, on TF1), in round two of the Nations Championship. After the reverse against the All Blacks, Fabien Galthié has reshuffled the pack: seven changes, two debutants and a tactical gamble that has been a long time coming.
Ntamack at fly-half, Jalibert at full-back
This is the call everyone is talking about. Romain Ntamack will start at No. 10, his preferred position, while Matthieu Jalibert shifts to full-back. It is a pairing of the two star fly-halves that Fabien Galthié has been preparing for months and is finally putting into practice, with Jalibert set to discover the full-back role at international level.
A doubt for part of the week because of a calf strain, the Bordeaux man came through the captain’s run and does indeed start at full-back. Antoine Hastoy, at one point mentioned for the No. 15 shirt, has been left out of the squad. At scrum-half, Maxime Lucu will wear the captain’s armband.
Two first caps
The match will have a particular flavour for Moses Alo-Emile. Born in Brisbane, the Stade Français prop will win his first France cap against his country of birth, with his family in the stands. He packs down alongside the experienced Peato Mauvaka and Demba Bamba.
The other debutant is Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang on the wing. The Pau man is hardly an international novice: with 92 sevens caps and an Olympic gold medal in 2024, he is simply discovering the fifteen-a-side game, with less space but the same repertoire of steps and aerial work.
A U20 world champion back row
Behind, Galthié reassembles a unit with history: Lenni Nouchi, Oscar Jégou and Marko Gazzotti, the back row that won the U20 World Championship in 2023, starting together for the first time at senior level. In front of them, the second row features two Top 14 finalists, Florian Verhaeghe and Emmanuel Meafou.
France’s starting XV
- Alo-Emile – 2. Mauvaka – 3. Bamba
- Verhaeghe – 5. Meafou
- Jégou – 7. Nouchi – 8. Gazzotti
- Lucu (capt.) – 10. Ntamack
- Grandidier-Nkanang – 12. Moefana – 13. Brau-Boirie – 14. Attissogbe
- Jalibert
The finishers: Lamothe, Poirot, Tatafu, Auradou, Staniforth, Tixeront, Le Garrec, Gourgues.
Opposite them, Wallabies with their backs to the wall
Joe Schmidt’s Australia are on a run of five straight defeats, including a 33-31 home loss to Ireland last week. France, for their part, have already beaten these same Wallabies 48-33 in November 2025. In Brisbane, the loser risks being cut adrift in the table of this new competition. Which is to say there will be no shortage of tension at the Suncorp Stadium.
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