Brunel puts faith in teenager Ntamack over axed Bastareaud

Uncapped teenager Romain Ntamack has been preferred to the axed Mathieu Bastareaud in the France team for the Six Nations opener against Wales on Friday.

Centre Bastareaud – who captained France last year – not only misses out on a place in the starting line-up, but he will not be on the bench at Stade de France either.

Coach Jacques Brunel has put his faith in the 19-year-old Ntamack, whose father, Emile, won 46 caps for Les Bleus, to take on Warren Gatland’s side after some eye-catching displays for Toulouse and France Under-20s.

Ntamack – the youngest player in any of this year’s Six Nations squads – will be paired with Wesley Fofana, while South African-born lock Paul Willemse will also make his debut in Paris.

Voici la composition de votre #XVdeFrance pour l’ouverture du tournoi des @SixNations_FR contre le Pays-de-Galles ! #NeFaisonsXV #FRAPDG pic.twitter.com/X3itWclpJO

— FF Rugby (@FFRugby) January 30, 2019

Brunel has reunited experienced scrum-half Morgan Parra and fly-half Camille Lopez for the start of the tournament.

Promising prop Demba Bamba, who made his international bow against Fiji last November, has only been named among the replacements.

France: Maxime Medard, Damian Penaud, Wesley Fofana, Romain Ntamack, Yoann Huget, Camille Lopez, Morgan Parra; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Paul Willemse, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Julien Marchand, Dany Priso, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Gregory Alldritt, Baptiste Serin, Gaël Fickou, Geoffrey Doumayrou.

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