France have suffered another major blow ahead of their Nations Championship campaign, with Toulouse lock Thibaud Flament ruled out for several weeks with a shoulder injury, according to French media reports.
The 29-year-old played the full 80 minutes of Toulouse’s 45-34 Top 14 win over Bayonne on Sunday but has since been sidelined. The reports say the injury will keep him out of France’s November programme.
That means Fabien Galthié will be without both Flament and Emmanuel Meafou, possibly his preferred second-row partnership, for the upcoming Tests against Fiji, South Africa and Argentina. Both will also miss the final weekend of the Nations Championship at the end of the month.
The timing is particularly damaging ahead of the November 13 meeting with the Springboks in Paris. France see that fixture as one of the defining matches of their Nations Championship campaign, with an eye on the World Cup next year.
Meafou already sidelined
Meafou is already expected to miss the autumn after suffering a knee injury last month. His absence leaves Galthié without the second-row pairing that had been expected to anchor his pack against the world champions.
Flament’s absence is also a major setback for Toulouse, who begin their Investec Champions Cup campaign this weekend. The French champions face Exeter Chiefs on Sunday and will head into the match without Flament, Meafou and Clément Vergé, which further stretches their resources in the second row.
Toulouse high-performance manager Jérôme Cazalbou said this week that Flament was being rested because of a shoulder issue. The latest reports suggest the problem is more significant than first indicated.
Further uncertainty for France
France are also dealing with uncertainty elsewhere in the squad. Bordeaux-Begles fly-half Matthieu Jalibert is sidelined by a thigh injury and faces a race to return for the start of the Nations Championship.
For Galthié, the loss of Flament compounds an increasingly difficult build-up to November, particularly with South Africa’s powerful pack looming in Paris.