'Naughty' Frenchmen dropped
Someof the players were amongst those questioned by the police the next day in a case of sexual assault. This delayed the team's return to Paris, but none of the players was charged. In fact the police said: "No crime has been committed.”
But the coach, Jacques Brunel, French Rugby Federation have acted against those questioned, because “With this inappropriate behaviour, they failed to respect their duty as international players.”
The result is that nine players have been excluded from the squad of 31 players from which the team to play in the next match will be chosen – against Italy in Marseille on 23 February 2018. The Federation did not name the players sanctioned.
Dropped: Alexandre Lapandry, Arthur Iturria, Sekou Macalou, Anthony Belleau, Félix Lambey, Jonathan Danty, Rémi Lamerat, Louis Picamoles and the team's star Teddy Thomas.
They do not feature in the squad for the game on 23 February 2018 in Marseille. ,
Some of them were not in the match-day squad against Scotland – Alexandre Lapandry, Sekou Macalou, Félix Lambey and Jonathan Danty. They had endured the pain of watching.
France lost their first two games, 15-13 to Ireland in Paris and 32-26 to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
France squad for Italy: Mathieu Babillot, Mathieu Bastareaud, Lionel Beauxis, Eddie Ben Arous, Hugo Bonneval, Yacouba Camara, Camille Chat, Henry Chavancy, Baptiste Couilloud, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Benjamin Fall, Gaël Fickou, Paul Gabrillagues, Kélian Galletier, Cedate Gomes Sa, Rémy Grosso, Guilhem Guirado, Wenceslas Lauret, Bernard Le Roux, Maxime Machenaud, Geoffrey Palis, Adrien Pélissié, Jefferson Poirot, Dany Priso, Baptiste Serin, Rabah Slimani, Romain Taofifenua, Marco Tauleigne, François Trinh-Duc, Sébastien Vahaamahina, Virimi Vakatawa.
