As Australian rugby basks in the glow of Angus Crichton’s signature, the game was served yet another reminder of the growing threat of French rugby with the naming of Les Bleus’ Six Nations squad.
Former Brumbies and Waratahs lock Tom Staniforth, 31, was the shock inclusion in a France squad that sees the return of star No. 9 Antoine Dupont, but one that also came with several surprise omissions of some other established performers.
However, it is the stunning rise of Staniforth that will prick Australian ears, with the second-rower having served his five-year residency period after he departed for Top 14 club Castres Olympique in 2021.
Staniforth had previously enjoyed a six-season Super Rugby career, the lock playing 22 and 40 games for the Brumbies and Waratahs respectively. But he had never factored in Wallabies discussions, leading him to head offshore in search of other opportunities.
Five years on and Staniforth could now join another Australian-honed lock, the towering Emmanuel Meafou, in France’s second-row, again highlighting a couple of uncomfortable realities for Rugby Australia.
With scores of young players being recruited to French academies while still at school, including star schoolboy Heinz Lomoto, Staniforth’s Test call-up is a wake-up call that Les Bleus are also a threat for players at the mid-point of their rugby careers, so too that Super Rugby may not be the great preparation for the international arena that it once was.
Meanwhile, Mack Hansen, the mercurial Australian star who tormented the Wallabies last November, is to miss the Six Nations and the rest of the season with a foot injury – while a host of other Australians are set to feature in Europe’s great rugby arena.
Tom Staniforth has been named in France’s squad for the 2026 Six Nations Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images
As the teams started unveiling their squads for the championship which begins at the start of next month, the absence of Canberra-born Hansen among the Ireland lineup had been expected because he had undergone surgery on his troublesome foot only last month.
But in another blow for the 27-year-old, who had been so brilliant when scoring a first-half hat trick against Australia in their November Test in Dublin, Connacht coach Stuart Lancaster has confirmed the flying winger/fullback will almost certainly miss the rest of the season as he recovers.
It’s been a recurring problem for Hansen, who had to cut short his British & Lions tour to Australia because of the injury, which also flared up again in Ireland’s Test with South Africa.
Connacht have set the European Challenge Cup final in May as a potential return for Hansen, but Lancaster told reporters: “It will be tight. It will be a struggle.”
Hansen’s Canberra teammate Finlay Bealham is in the Ireland squad, but he’s suffering from a knee injury, still hoping to be ready for the opening match against France in Paris on February 5.
The Irish have a whole host of injury woes, with Robbie Henshaw announced on Wednesday as missing the Paris opener.
He’ll be among 10 possible starters ruled out. That’s bad news for a trip to the Stade de France where fit-again Antoine Dupont, the world’s top player, is set to be unleashed again by coach Fabien Galthie, who’s named him while, surprisingly, leaving Damian Penaud, Gregory Alldritt and Gael Fickou out the squad.
Scotland’s bid for their first title after a 27-year wait will be led by their inspirational Melburnian-born captain, centre Sione Tuipulotu, with back-row forward Jack Dempsey, the former Wallaby, also named in the squad.
