France rugby

The sport's global governing body said in October it "does not recommend" transgender women play contact rugby.

In March, draft plans from England's Rugby Football Union stated some transgender women would be risk-assessed before they could play the domestic game.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) said transgender women who are transitioning from male to female could play as long as they could certify they had been on hormonal treatment for at least 12 months and their testosterone levels were under five nanamoles per litre.

The first test is in Sydney on Wednesday, July 7 at the SCG followed by a Tuesday night Melbourne match at AAMI Park on July 13 and a final test on Saturday, July 17 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

The condensed series is due to French club commitments and hotel quarantine for the visitors.

It’s the first time since 2012 that the Wallabies have played a midweek test, with Australia losing that match to Scotland.

Both countries will name larger squads than normal for the series given it’s unlikely they can field the same starting side in successive tests.

Fresh from an encouraging autumn programme that culminated in a second-place 2020 Six Nations finish and taking England to extra-time at Twickenham in the final of the Autumn Nations Cup, Galthie’s latest squad shows he is willing to experiment some more in his second calendar year in charge. 

Three uncapped players have made the first France squad of 2021, winger Donovan Taofifenua and prop Georges-Henri Colombe of Racing and Stade Francais centre Julien Delbouis. 

It’s believed the 48-year-old climbed on to the roof of an abandoned park building before jumping and falling to his death.  

The winner of 67 caps between 1998 and 2007, Dominici was one of the try-scoring France stars who shocked the world when Les Bleus knocked out the All Blacks at the semi-final stage of the 1999 World Cup.   

The 31-year-old, who played 54 times for France and won three European Cup titles with Toulon, raised eyebrows when he quit Toulon for New York.

After playing just five games for the Major League Rugby side, the coronavirus pandemic saw the rest of the American season scrapped.

Bastareaud had a short stint with Lyon as a 'joker' at the start of this campaign, with the club missing players due to the World Cup in Japan.

"I wanted to discover something new abroad," said Bastareaud, who is expected to arrive in France in a few days' time.

Prop Mohamed Haouas was sent off for punching Scottish flanker Jamie Ritchie in the 37th minute of France's 28-17 defeat at Murrayfield on Sunday (Monday NZ Time).

What can I say? It's really disappointing," Ibanez told BBC Sport after Scotland's convincing win, which featured two tries to New Zealand-born wing Sean Maitland.

"We know at this level you cannot react badly. This is what he did, obviously we'll have a long talk and hopefully he can improve in that department.

The 27-23 victory in Cardiff kept their undefeated run in the Six Nations alive with three wins from as many outings, and Fabien Galthié’s side are in pole position for a Grand Slam title as they lie in first place with matches against Scotland in Edinburgh and Ireland in Paris remaining.

Their prior wins over England, Italy and now Wales have now been recognised by the world rankings system, as Les Bleus have been elevated to fifth place for the first time since February 2014.