{"id":714050,"date":"2026-01-22T23:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714050\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:15:14","slug":"france-star-to-miss-six-nations-opener-due-to-wifes-fertility-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714050\/","title":{"rendered":"France star to miss Six Nations opener due to wife\u2019s fertility treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thibaud<\/p>\n

Thibaud Flament will miss France\u2019s first game of next month\u2019s Six Nations (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Thibaud Flament will miss France<\/a>\u2019s Six Nations<\/a> opener against Ireland<\/a> as his wife is having fertility treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

France coach Fabien Galthie<\/a> named Flament in his 42-man squad for the championship<\/a> earlier this week but had said the lock would be unavailable for the tournament curtain-raiser against Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland in Paris on 5 February due to \u201cpersonal reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Flament has now detailed the exact reason he will miss the clash in a candid interview, explaining that he and his wife Ethel \u2013 who suffers from endometriosis \u2013 had begun fertility treatment at the end of last year and he legally has to be by her side for the appointment in the week of the Six Nations opener.<\/p>\n

In the interview with L\u2019Equipe<\/a>, the 28-year-old said: \u201cEthel, my wife, has endometriosis, like many women today. As a result, the issue of infertility is a real concern for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got married this summer with the desire to start a family. We began undergoing medical tests, meeting with specialists\u2026 Very quickly, we realised that having a child wasn\u2019t necessarily going to be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understood that we would have to undergo ART [assisted reproduction]. We had a bit of a struggle. Our application was accepted in November, and we were supposed to start the procedure in December.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thibaud<\/p>\n

Thibaud Flament started three of France\u2019s matches in last year\u2019s title-winning Six Nations campaign (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Flament went on to explain that the couple learned in early January that the procedure falls the same week as the Ireland match and it wouldn\u2019t be possible for him to do both, although they had no hesitation in making their decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t control the date. The timing is based on the menstrual cycle of women, with a whole protocol around it,\u201d he added. \u201cPostponing the ART procedure would have involved more risks and stress, so it wasn\u2019t consistent with our desire to have a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t say we wanted a child, go through ART, but then have me prepare for the match, but maybe not play the match itself, constantly travelling back and forth, only to be called up at the last minute. It just can\u2019t work. One must take responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe considered whether or not to speak out, whether to expose our private life. Initially, my stance was not to talk about it, not to expose us. After reflection, we prefer to tell the truth, rather than have people try to find it out for us. The subject isn\u2019t taboo and it\u2019s part of our lives. This illness affects many people and is often diagnosed late. The illness affects the couple, not just the woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Flament<\/p>\n

Flament was a key player for Les Bleus in the autumn as well (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Flament hopes to return for the round two match against Wales on 15 February, although was unable to guarantee his availability, with Hugo Auradou likely to replace him when Galthie names his team for the opening Stade de France clash. Paul Boudehent, Mickael Guillard, Emmanuel Meafou, Charles Ollivon and Cameron Woki are the other second-row options in the squad.<\/p>\n

Flament played against Italy, Ireland and Scotland in last year\u2019s Championship as Les Bleus secured the title, their first since 2022 and just their second since 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thibaud Flament will miss France\u2019s first game of next month\u2019s Six Nations (Getty Images) Thibaud Flament will miss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,52599,46505,36,678,213693,213694],"class_list":["post-714050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-fabien-galthie","tag-fertility-treatment","tag-france","tag-ireland","tag-thibaud-flament","tag-wife-ethel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115941299026664058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}