Jalibert returns to France squad to ease fly-half crisis before Argentina clash

Matthieu Jalibert has been recalled to the France squad for their Nations Championship fixture against Argentina, giving head coach Fabien Galthié a specialist fly-half option after a damaging injury crisis at No.10.

The Bordeaux-Bègles playmaker has been absent throughout France’s November campaign after suffering a quadriceps injury in a Top 14 match in September. A further setback in training last month extended his spell on the sidelines, but he has now been passed fit and is back in contention for Les Bleus.

Jalibert’s return comes at a critical moment. For Friday night’s 21-19 victory over South Africa at the Stade de France, Galthié was without Jalibert, Thomas Ramos, Antoine Hastoy and Romain Ntamack — the latter having dislocated his left shoulder during the win over Fiji on November 7. The shortage of specialist options led France to deploy captain Antoine Dupont at fly-half, with the scrum-half sharing playmaking duties with Maxime Lucu in a bold tactical arrangement.

The gamble paid off. Converted tries from Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey helped France build a 21-7 half-time lead, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels crossing for the Springboks. South Africa, despite Jasper Wiese receiving a 20-minute red card early in the second half, mounted a fierce fightback. Cobus Reinach’s try after 50 minutes cut the deficit to seven and set up a tense finale as the world champions repeatedly threatened the French line.

The contest tightened further when replacement prop Regis Montagne was sin-binned in the final 10 minutes. Malcolm Marx powered over from a driving maul to bring South Africa within two points, but replacement fly-half Manie Libbok missed the conversion — a miss that proved decisive as France held on to secure their first victory over a Rassie Erasmus-coached South Africa in Paris since 2005.

With Jalibert now available, Galthié has a more conventional set of options as France look to follow up that result against an Argentina side visiting the Stade de France next weekend.