It marks the end of a long road for the Toulouse flyer, who tore his cruciate ligament playing against Scotland a year ago.

Having replaced Benjamin Fall, Philippe Saint-André will now have to decide whether Médard slots in as a direct replacement on the wing, or if he moves to full-back with Toulouse teammate Yoann Huget switching to the wing.

He said: “This year there were several difficult months, followed by a few more where I was trying to get back to my best.

“My aim was to get back into the French team but after the November Tests I thought to myself that it would be very difficult. Here we are though, I’ve had three weeks in a row where I’ve played and my teammates have believed in me.

“They have given me a lot of ball to express myself.

“Whether I’m a replacement, or start on the wing or at full-back, I’ll be happy. When you come back from an injury like mine, you have to take advantage of every chance you get to play.

“Of course I prefer to play at full-back, but at Toulouse Clément [Poitrenaud] is playing very well at full-back, like Yoann with France. I’ll take what I can get.”