FRANCE NAMED a patched-up 26-man squad yesterday for their tour to Australia, leaving out the players still involved in the semi-finals of the French championship.
The touring party includes 12 newcomers. Sébastien Chabal, left out for the Six Nations tournament, was recalled.
"It was not easy but it's not a squad by default," coach Marc Lièvremont said.
"There will be a lot of young players and some who are not so young. Our goal is to lay the foundations for the 2011 World Cup. We'll need those young players in New Zealand."
Biarritz, ousted from the Top 14 semi-finals by Clermont, Toulouse, Paris and Perpignan, provide a backbone of six players to the squad, including the scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili, number eight Imanol Harinordoquy and centre Damien Traille.
Chabal and the hookers Sébastien Bruno and Benjamin Kayser, who play club rugby with Sale and Leicester, will bring an English flavour to the team.
"We had to take into account the fact that some players were very tired at the end of a long season which started with the World Cup," Lièvremont said.
"Such was the case for Chabal. He had a four-week break, whereas players like Jérôme Thion, who was available, have been in action all year."
Flanker Mathieu Lièvremont, younger brother of the coach, will lead the group of the newcomers that includes scrumhalf Sébastien Tillous-Bordes, centre Thibault Lacroix and wings Jean-Baptiste Peyras and Alexis Palisson.
"All these new players will have nothing to lose," said assistant coach Émile Ntamack. "We are going to Australia to win but whatever the results there will be no lynching."
France will play Tests against the Wallabies on June 28th in Sydney and July 5th in Brisbane.
The Ulster and Ireland backrow Stephen Ferris has signed a new three-year contract with Ulster, which will keep him at Ravenhill until 2011.
Ferris, recently returned from the tour to New Zealand and Australia, where he earned his fifth cap, said: "I'm only 22 and hope to play for Ulster for a long time to come; I really couldn't see myself playing anywhere else. There's such a fantastic group of lads in the squad, and now that it's quite a young squad, we are going to build up a winning team together."
FRANCE SQUAD: Forwards - Sébastien Bruno, Benjamin Kayser, Lionel Faure, Pierre Correia, Benoît Lecouls, Renaud Boyoud, Lionel Nallet (capt), David Couzinet, Sébastien Chabal, Louis Picamoles, Imanol Harinordoquy, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Mathieu Lièvremont, Yannick Caballero. Backs - Dimitri Yachvili, Sébastien Tillous-Bordes, François Trinh-Duc, Benjamin Boyet, Damien Traille, Thibault Lacroix, Maxime Mermoz, Benjamin Thiéry, Jean-Baptiste Peyras, Alexis Palisson, David Janin, Pépito Elhorga.
Connacht to face London Irish
YESTERDAY'S DRAW for the 2008/2009 European Challenge Cup placed Connacht in Pool One with London Irish, Dax or Albi from France and the Italian outfit Rugby Rovigo.
Michael Bradley's side will kick-start their European assault on the second weekend in October.
POOL 1: London Irish, Connacht Rugby, Dax*/Albi*, Rugby Rovigo
POOL 2: Northampton Saints, Bristol Rugby, Montpellier, Toulon
POOL 3: Bourgoin, Worcester Warriors, Petrarca Rugby, Bucuresti Oaks
POOL 4: Newcastle Falcons, Brive, Overmach Rugby Parma, Cetransa El Salvador
POOL 5: Saracens, Viadana, Bayonne, Stade Montois Rugby
*The participation of Dax/Albi is subject to confirmation from the LNR and FFR.
