Antoine Frisch made a good start to his international career.
Recently departed Munster centre Antoine Frisch scored on his France debut as they beat Argentina 28-15 in Mendoza.
Frisch trained with the Irish national team during his two seasons at the province but never made a full debut under Andy Farrell.
He did, however, feature for ‘Emerging Ireland’ in their 2022 tour of South Africa where he started against the Pumas and came on against Griquas.
That wasn’t enough to tie him down.
The dynamic centre, who qualifies for Ireland through his Dublin grandmother, was called up to France’s Six Nations squad back in March to effectively end hopes of an Ireland international career.
Rumours over his club future spread shortly afterwards with Frisch eventually deciding to return to his country of birth by signing a deal with Top 14 outfit Toulon.
Robust in contact, highly skilful and relatively quick, Frisch could have added some impact to Ireland’s ageing centre division and our loss is truly France’s gain.
Last night showed a sign of things to come as he used all of his ability to squeeze through a gap in the Argentinian defence and power his way over the line with conviction.
While his talents can’t be missed from an Ireland team in which he never featured, Munster fans will sorely miss that familiar sight next season.
He was a good one and would still be there if Ireland experimented some more with their team selections during World Cup cycles.
One can only hope this won’t be a talking point come the next World Cup in 2027.
