Senior International Matches (Men)

Sat 22nd February 2025   - KO  17:00 - Parc des Sports, Avignon , France
Official: Mohamad Drizza (France)

Morocco

10

FT

34

Half Time
4 - 16

France

Tries

Naji Anas (17)
Hakim Ed Dermoune (69)

Mathias Dall'Astra (1)
Quentin Crunel (6)
Baptiste Pourchi (9,59)
Yann Doutres Pedragosa (51)
Alexis Lis (76)

Goals

Kaiss Lafifi (1/2)

Mathias Dall'Astra (1/2)

Sinbins

Theo Fouque (71)
Anthony Munico (26)

France and Morocco have named their squads for tomorrow’s (Saturday) men’s senior international at the Parc Des Sports, Avignon (kick off 17.00, local time). There will be an element of mate-against-mate with nine players from the host town facing each other, four for France and five in their opponent’s selection.

The last time the nations met was in the 2003 Mediterranean Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Tripoli, France coach for this encounter, Maxime Gréseque, scoring a hat trick in a comprehensive win. “It is great to be able to bring together the young players from our championship,” he said. “This match is an opportunity to prepare our pool of new players for the French team of tomorrow. We want to be in continuity with the French U17 and U19 teams.”

It will be Morocco’s first fixture since a 38-10 loss at the hands of Nigeria in October 2019 at the Middle East Africa Championships. They will be coached by Olivier Janzac. who has previous experience as France women’s head coach.

Janzac noted: “We prepared in excellent conditions thanks to the mobilization of all the staff. The players are eager to wear the colours of Morocco and show the quality of Moroccan players as well as promote our sport.”

FRANCE SQUAD
Anthony Munico (Albi), Rayan Bonte, Théo Fouque, Alexis Lis, Baptiste Pourchi-Aventini (Avignon), Félix Aubry, Paul Galy (Carcassonne), Luc Brocas, Arthur Salles (FC Lézignan), Quentin Crunel, Mathis Dall'asta, Zachary Santo (Limouxin), Lenny Chachoua, Marc Pena Argeles (Pia), Yann Doutres Pedragosa, Mathis Frayssinous (St Esteve XIII Catalan), Roméo Tropis (Toulouse Olympique), Mahault Beauvilliers, Sacha Kouassi (Villeneuve)

MOROCCO SQUAD
Mouadh Bida, Hakim Ed Dermoune, Zakaria Hammouch, Ayoub Mesyani, Anas Naji, (Avignon), Adam Ed-Diche, (Ferals), Kais Lafifi, (Palau), Yannis Hamri, Yassin Nidouarab (Salon de Provence), Yliass Lamarti, Yassin Messaoudi (Toulouse), Yassine Al Gannfoufi, (Villefranche), Yannis Ahcini, Yanis Hettat, (Villegailhenc), Hamza Bachoukh, Houcine Fakir, Sofiane Hemissi, (Villeneuve), Abdelaziz Damen, (XIII Catalan)

21 February 2025
1 Kaiss Lafifi
Full Back
Zachary Santo 1
2 Zakaria Hammouch
Right Wing
Quentin Crunel 2
3 Sofiane Hemissi
Right Centre
Romeo Tropis 3
4 Yannis Ahcini
Left Centre
Yann Doutres Pedragosa 4
5 Yannis Hamri
Left Wing
Baptiste Pourchi 5
6 Hamza Bachoukh
Stand Off
Lenny Chachoua 6
7 Yliass Lamarti
Scrum Half
Mathias Dall'Astra 7
8 Houcine Fakir
Prop
Alexis Lis 8
9 Hakim Ed Dermoune
Hooker
Mahault Beauvilliers 9
10 Naji Anas
Prop
Theo Fouque 10
11 Adam Ed-Diche
Second Row
Luc Brocas 11
12 Mouadh Bida
Second Row
Anthony Munico 12
13 Ayoub Mesyani
Loose Forward
Felix Aubry 13
14 Abdelaziz Damen
Int 1
Marc Pena 14
15 Yanis Hettat
Int 2
Sacha Kouassi 15
16 Yassine Al Gannfoufi
Int 3
Arthur Salles 16
Yassin Messaoudi
Int 4
Mathias Frayssinous 17

A young French side ran in six tries as they overcame stubborn Morocco 34-10 in the first men’s senior international of the year. The match was held at the Parc Des Sports, Avignon but designated as a Morocco home fixture.

France coach, Maxime Greseque, commented: “We set up a young team, it was enthusiastic, I think we played well. Morocco also performed really well with a lot of pride of passion, and we are happy to earn this victory.”

Scrum half Mathis Dall’asta – who finished with 14 points – got France off to the perfect start, crossing in the opening minute after Morocco had kicked out on the full. France continued to press with winger Quentin Crunel finding space out wide to go over, Dall’astra failing to add the conversion, his only miss of the afternoon.

Baptiste Pourchi-Aventini made it three tries in nine minutes in a blistering start by Les Bleues, a deep kick being twice hacked on by hooker Mahault Beauvilliers, Pourchi-Aventini side footing the ball over the line and touching down.

Prop Naji Anas got Morocco off the mark, running a great line on a reverse angle to bulldoze through on the left-hand side, and France were reduced to 12 men when Anthony Munico was sin binned for a dangerous tackle but held on to lead 16-4 at the break.

Heavy rain slowed down the play, but Yann Doutres Pedragosa went over on an overlap on the right ten minutes into the second half, and Pourchi-Aventini showed great pace after breaking free on half-way on the hour mark to complete his try double.

Hakim Ed Dermoune scooted from dummy-half with 10 minutes remaining to give Morocco a further lift, Kaiss Lafifi with the successful conversion. Shortly afterwards Theo Fouques was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, reducing France to 12 men for the second time in the match.

However, Morocco were unable to take advantage of the extra man and Alexis Lis had the final word for the French, finishing another double kick move started by Dall’astra, near to the posts.

“We struggled to complete our sets at times, but we defended very well and that was down to passion and the hard work of the players,” noted Morocco coach Oliver Janzac. “We lacked a little speed out wide defensively and France exposed us there and they played well. We leave on solid foundations; we spoke of the importance of a good performance and whilst I am not satisfied with the result, I am with that.”

22 February 2025