Toulouse back-row Anthony Jelonch has withdrawn from the France squad with less than two weeks to go until they get their Guinness Six Nations campaign underway against Wales in Paris.
France have given no indication as to why the 28-year-old will not join the 42-player squad at their Marcoussis base. The announcement comes a day after Jelonch started for the reigning Investec Champions Cup winners in their 80-12 dismantling of Leicester Tigers at the Stade Ernest-Wallon, playing every minute of the victory.
Jelonch has been replaced in Fabien Galthie’s squad by Racing 92 lock Romain Taofifenua in a bizarre series of events. The 53-cap lock was declared injured on Sunday due to a knee injury sustained against the Stormers in the Champions Cup, and was replaced by Lyon’s Mickaël Guillard. His absence was shortlived, however, with the 34-year-old coming in to replace Jelonch.
An injury would be another cruel twist in a luckless couple of years for the Toulouse star, who has suffered two serious ACL injuries since 2023.
Just weeks after returning from his second ACL injury, Jelonch was included in France’s squad for the Autumn Nations Series, but did not feature as Les Bleus registered wins over Japan, the All Blacks and Argentina.
Galthie’s side will provide the curtain raiser for this year’s Championship when they host Wales at the Stade de France, with a trip to Twickenham to face England in round two.
Updated France Six Nations squad:
Forwards
Esteban Abadie
Dorian Aldegheri
Gregory Alldritt
Uini Atonio
Hugo Auradou
Cyril Baille
Giorgi Beria
Paul Boudehent
Joshua Brennan
Georges-Henri Colombe
Francois Cros
Thibaud Flament
Marko Gazzotti
Jean-Baptiste Gros
Mickael Guillard
Matthias Halagahu
Oscar Jegou
Maxime Lamothe
Julien Marchand
Peato Mauvaka
Emmanuel Meafou
Dany Priso
Rabah Slimani
Romain Taofifenua
Backs
Theo Attissogbe
Pierre-Louis Barassi
Leo Barre
Louis Bielle-Biarrey
Nicolas Depoortere
Gael Drean
Antoine Dupont
Antoine Frisch
Emilien Gailleton
Mattieu Jalibert
Nolann Le Garrec
Maxime Lucu
Yoram Moefana
Noah Nene
Romain Ntamack
Damian Penaud
Thomas Ramos
Gabin Villiere
