Fabien Galthie set to keep faith with French team which crushed Italy for Ireland clash

Jean-Baptiste Gros: The Toulon loosehead has pulled out of the France squad with an unspecified injury.

France will have to make at least one change to their matchday squad for Sunday’s Six Nations match against Ireland after prop Jean-Baptiste Gros pulled out of the squad with an unspecified injury.

The Toulon loosehead, who came on as a 53rd-minute replacement for Cyrille Baille in last Saturday’s 50-10 demolition of Italy, has been replaced by Racing 92’s Hassane Kolingar.

Any changes to the France squad are likely to be on the bench, as Fabien Galthie is expected to keep faith with the same starting line-up that ran in seven tries in Rome.

That means hooker Julien Marchand should hold off the challenge of Pierre Bougarit for the number two shirt, despite not returning from a head injury assessment (HIA) early in the second half after taking a knee to the head.

The Toulouse captain revealed he stayed off as a precaution, despite passing the HIA.

“I could even have returned (on Saturday in Rome) because the protocol was positive,” he said.

“We did it again 48 hours later. No concussion was diagnosed, I was able to resume training this morning (Tuesday).”

In another change to Les Bleus’ training camp personnel, Kolingar’s uncapped tighthead team-mate Georges-Henri Colombe — who was not in last Saturday’s matchday squad — has been released back to the Paris club, and replaced by the 34-cap Uini Atonio as France look to add weight and experience to their pack for this weekend’s challenge in Dublin.

Kolingar, a world U20 championship winner in 2018, has been capped twice by Fabien Galthie in the autumn and was one of the players released ahead of the Italy game, while Atonio had also been selected for the pre-tournament training camp in Nice but withdrew with injury.

France will reveal their squad for the match against Ireland on Friday at noon.