Galthie's message of hope to top 100

TOP 14 coaches, pundits and fans have had the calculators, slide rules and computer modelling programmes out this weekend as they worked through the permutations of the current campaign.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

Mark the dates in your diaries: exactly one month from today, four days after the Top 14 final, France coach Fabien Galthie will announce his first 42-player training squad for the World Cup.

Two months later, on August 21, he will confirm the final 33 for the tournament itself.

Between those two dates, the French coaches have given themselves plenty of room for manoeuvre, and left plenty of doors open for anyone who doesn’t make that first list.

And up to June 21, the coaching staff will have their work cut out reducing a long list of “around 100”, according to Galthie, down to that initial 42.

That list will be far from the end of the matter.

The head coach’s message at a press conference in his Lot hometown this week – where he had launched his ambitions plans for the national squad at the end of 2019 – was unequivocal, if not entirely accurate: “Until the last [warm-up] match, I invite the elite of French rugby to prepare to board the France team bus.”

The last pre-tournament summer warm-up match is against Australia in Saint-Denis on August 26, five days after the World Cup squad confirmation deadline, but you get the message.

Right now, and for as long as possible, places are available. It’s some message for a number of players.

One of those players on Galthie’s mind is Toulouse back row Anthony Jelonch, who has not played since rupturing an ACL in the Six Nations. According to Galthie, Jelonch is currently defying recovery timescale expectations and may – as per the player’s own assertions after his surgery – be ready to return in August, just before the final squad is revealed.