France could field heaviest pack in rugby history at upcoming Six Nations

South Africa is usually known for their humongous packs, but France can select a pack this year that easily outweighs them, as they did during the World Cup, too.

From France's 34-man squad for the tournament, they could select a one-ton pack to tackle the rest of the competition.

If Galthie goes down the route of sheer size and selects his heaviest possible, he would need to make only a few tweaks to the pack that featured for Les Bleus during the World Cup.

The heavyweight front row would include usual starts in loosehead Cyril Baille (119 kgs) and tighthead Uini Atonio (147 kgs). Meanwhile, hooker Peato Mauvaka (112 kgs) would need to start ahead of clubmate Julien Marchand (110 kgs), with only a couple of kilograms separating the pair.

The French head coach can get nearly 300 kilograms out of his second rowers if he opts for Romain Taofifenua (138 kgs) and uncapped Toulouse star Emmanuel Meafou (145 kgs).

This would, however, mean that Racing 92 star Cameron Woki (111 kgs) would not feature at all.

Meanwhile, Galthie would not have to tweak his back row at all, which would feature Anthony Jelonch (114 kgs), Charles Ollivon (114 kgs) and their captain for the Six Nations, Gregory Alldritt (115 kgs) at number eight.

If Galthie were to select this forward pack, it would tally up to 1 004 kilograms, with the front row weighing 378 kgs, the second row weighing 283 kgs and the loose trio weighing 343.

France will be eager to bounce back from their Rugby World Cup disappointment and kickstart their 2024 Six Nations campaign on February 2 against Ireland in Marseille.

They follow that up with a trip to Murrayfield to take on Scotland before facing Italy at home, Wales away and finally England at home.

France's 1 004 kg pack

8 Gregory Alldritt (115 kgs)7 Charles Ollivon (114 kgs)6 Anthony Jelonch (114 kgs)5 Romain Taofifenua (138 kgs)4 Emmanuel Meafou (145 kgs)3 Uini Atonio (147 kgs)2 Peato Mauvaka (112 kgs)1 Cyril Baille (119 kgs)

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