In-form Thomas pushes for French return

FRANCE coach Jacques Brunel kept the squad that beat Scotland together for the weekend, but Teddy Thomas’ hat-trick for Racing 92 against La Rochelle has added to the coach’s options ahead of their trip to Dublin.

The winger, who almost broke Ireland’s Grand Slam before it had got up and running 13 months ago, picked up a thigh injury in January and missed the first three rounds of the Six Nations, but his fine performance in the Parisians’ return to winning ways means Brunel has a decision to make on his inclusion.

He may be reluctant to change a back-three that performed so well in the team’s win in St Denis, with Thomas Ramos playing well at fullback and Yoann Huget and Damian Penaud on the wings.

“Yoann Huget has found a new lease of life,” Joe Schmidt said of the winger. “I thought he was really good last weekend and he’s actually been really good all tournament. The try he scored against Wales, the line break he made... Damian Penaud has been unbelievably good. I still know a lot of people in Clermont and he is spoken about really positively.”

There was no Simon Zebo in the Racing line-up for the 50-14 victory, but Donnacha Ryan did come off the bench at the La Defense Arena as Scotland’s Finn Russell also got through unscathed.

Having started the defeat to Wales, Wesley Fofana missed the loss to England and the win over Scotland but he too made a successful return with Clermont with a starring role in their 52-17 win over Grenoble.