France pick fresh faces for Tonga test

France?'s rugby union national team players France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has put his faith in the untried and untested for Saturday's Test against a Tonga side comprising seven French-based players. Exciting Perpignan finisher Sofiane Guitoune gets his first ever cap while talented teenage Toulouse centre Gael Fickou is being given his first start after a total of just 18 minutes as a substitute in previous matches against Scotland and New Zealand.
The inclusion of 24-year-old Guitoune is particularly interesting as the Algerian-born wing had hardly played any top flight rugby until this season.
Previous spells with Agen and Albi in the second division, and a cruciate knee ligament injury in his first season with Perpignan, had limited his exposure to the Top 14 to just handful of matches.
But with six tries in his first six matches for the Catalans this season, he shot to the top of the try-scoring charts and to the attention of the French selectors.
Twice, in September and October, he was called up to training camps but now the flying winger, who has also played at centre and full-back, will get his chance to show his talents on the international stage.
"I expect him to have a great match, he's a player who 'stinks' of rugby, he's a finisher who also senses the line," said Saint-Andre.
"He has the ability to find space and the right timing."
Guitoune will be up against familiar faces as two of his Perpignan team-mates will start for Tonga.
Centre Sione Piukala and prop Alisona Taumalolo both ply their trade in Catalonia while No.8 Opeti Fonua plays for Bayonne in the nearby Basque country.
Yet the other four French-based players are all playing in the second division, perhaps demonstrating the difference in talent available to the two nations.
In fact, Tonga have few players playing top level club rugby in either the northern or southern hemisphere.
Hooker Elvis Taione plays for Jersey in the English second division, fly-half Fangatapu Apikotoa plays in his homeland while captain and flanker Nili Latu is one of two playing Japan, alongside centre Siale Piutau, the brother of new All Blacks sensation Charles Piutau, who scored one try and set up the other with an outlandish pass against Les Bleus at the Stade de France last weekend.
Although Tonga beat France in their last meeting, a 19-14 pool-stage success at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, where Les Bleus eventually went on to reach the final, the Pacific Islanders come into this match in dismal form having lost 19-18 to Romania last weekend.
Yet the unfashionable nation will be hoping to evoke some of the spirit of 2011 in their attempts to cause an upset.
And one man who will be at the forefront of that is Taumalolo, a name no French rugby fan could ever forget.
Nicknamed "Dangerous", he came to the attention of the French public, and rugby fans worldwide, due to his war cries during the last few scrums of that famous World Cup match in Wellington.
"When I saw on him on TV I said: 'who's this crazy guy'," said Guitoune, who then joined Perpignan at the same time as Taumalolo.
"He's still like that, it's his personality. In the changing rooms he's discreet, shy; he doesn't speak very good French but he's funny.
"However, on the pitch, he's a lot less funny!"
Taumalolo himself remembers having an almost out of body experience during his startling appearance against France at the World Cup.
"I was in a trance, I was somewhere else, I was someone else," he recounted.
"I could have kept pushing in scrums for another entire match. I'm often over-excited when I play.
"I was delighted and proud, I'd always wanted to play for my country. Two weeks before that against the All Blacks I had realised how lucky I was to be there."
Having won just once in nine tests this year, Les Bleus desperately need a morale-boost ahead of next week's clash with South Africa.
Source: AFP