Jump directly to the content
freedom to rom

Who is Romain Ntamack? France start 19-year-old at fly-half against Scotland in the Six Nations

FRANCE take on Scotland in their third Six Nations match and they have sprung a surprise with their selection.

Jacques Brunel has put his faith in 19-year-old Romain Ntamack by starting him at fly-half - despite already playing at centre in the competition.

Six Nations 2019 fixtures, results and standings

 Ntamack made his France debut against Wales
1
Ntamack made his France debut against WalesCredit: Reuters

Who is Romain Ntamack?

Born in 1999, Romain Ntamack is the son of former France star Emile Ntamack.

He has made 26 Toulouse appearances following his debut in 2017 and scored 56 points.

Ntamack's debut for Les Bleus came against Wales, but he has already played for the U20 side and the French Barbarians.

Why was Mathieu Bastareaud dropped against Wales in first match?

Jacques Brunel says the dropping of Bastereaud is not a punishment, and he wants to experiment with quicker players during the match against Wales.

Meanwhile, Warren Gatland has expressed his surprise at the decision.

He said: "We had expected him to be included. They have obviously decided to go with a different attacking option.

"Probably what surprised me as much as anything was he is not a part of their 23. I thought if he was not in the starting XV he would have been on the bench as an impact player for the last 20 minutes or so.

"They have not got the biggest nine and ten in the world but neither have we so I expect they will come pretty direct through that channel and we will look at the same.

"[They have] a young 19-year-old in the midfield [Ntamack] as well, playing in a big game."

Gatland also said he was looking to put Ntamack under pressure in the same way Australia did in onf of Jonathan Davies' first games.

He commented: "We need to look at putting him under pressure by challenging him on decision-making and defence, and giving him no time on the ball and making it a tough day for him.

"I go back to one of (Wales centre) Jonathan Davies' first games in the (Principality) Stadium against Australia, and we often joke about that because he was like a rabbit in the headlights.

"Everything was happening so fast for him he was struggling to keep up with the game. It took him four or five games, and now he is a world-class centre."

Topics