DAN BIGGAR: Warren Gatland’s team selection will favour France and his decisions left me confused… it was a strange call to drop Nick Tompkins and George North, especially with an upset on the cards

I have lived in France for the past 18 months while playing for Toulon and this experience has given me a great insight into French rugby and the country’s language and culture.

It can be pretty crazy here sometimes. And that’s coming from someone who played for Wales for 15 years! The French are very traditional in many ways.

Many of the Top 14 games I play with Toulon are evening or Saturday afternoon games. I have a strange feeling that France may not be on the right track against Wales.

French teams don’t often play on Sunday afternoons, so at the start of the week and before the two sides were announced, I thought there was a good chance Wales would cause a big upset. I initially set the game to 50:50. But once the teams were confirmed, I think the situation is now 60:40 in France’s favor.

Warren Gatland’s team selection has certainly confused me.

Nick Tompkins (above) and George North were both dropped despite playing well

It seemed like a very strange call to drop Nick Tompkins and George North. They played well and formed a good partnership at the World Cup.

Wales have a very young team at the moment, but their backline selection is quite consistent, which counts for a lot in Test rugby. Owen Watkin and Joe Roberts are good players, but it’s a big ask to come straight out of the cold and get a big game off the ground.

Roberts wins only his second cap in Cardiff. It’s a huge opportunity for him.

I don’t quite understand the timing of the decision. In my opinion, Wales have a very good chance of an upset. Beating France and claiming a big scalp would be huge for the young players in the squad.

If France were firing on all cylinders you might understand the call and Wales would look a little more to the future. But by their standards over the past two years, France have been poor in these Six Nations so far.

North formed a good partnership with Tompkins during Wales’ World Cup campaign

Dropping Elliot Dee at hooker was another big decision – he has had a strong Six Nations

Dropping Elliot Dee at hooker is another big decision. He’s had a really good Six Nations. Like George and Nick, I’m sure Elliot will be very disappointed.

Wales clearly wants to get as much size of the park as possible.

That’s why Ryan Elias has been chosen over Elliot and Dafydd Jenkins has moved to No. 6 to accommodate Will Rowlands alongside Adam Beard in the second row.

Although Wales have lost all three games so far, I think there is quite a bit of positivity around the team. It’s a big contrast to when I played, when we usually won and still had a grip!

Wales supporters can understand that the team is rebuilding. But I understand why many are surprised by the decision to leave out George in particular.

Gatland clearly wants to watch other players, but many supporters seem surprised

Warren clearly wants to look at other players. The concern is that the French team for this match looks much better than those against Scotland and Italy.

Their Wales team is packed with power. Gregory Alldritt and Thibaud Flament are back from injury. Emmanuel Meafou, making his debut at Lock, is an absolutely massive guy!

Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert are very good club players, but perhaps not at the top level in international rugby.

I think France look stronger with Nolann Le Garrec and Thomas Ramos at numbers 9 and 10.

There will only be one winner in a power struggle as France brings their A-game physically.