France head coach Marc Lièvremont has made
seven changes to his starting XV for Saturday's
eagerly-anticipated clash with the All Blacks in Marseille.
Injuries have forced his hand with several
players, most notably in the back row where both Imanol
Harinordoquy and Louis Picamoles have been ruled out.
Clermont Auvergne flanker Julien Bonnaire did enough against
Samoa to retain his starting spot in partnership with
skipper Thierry Dusautoir, while fit-again Montpellier
number eight Fulgence Ouedraogo completes the trio.
Elsewhere, Lièvremont has opted to return
Biarritz utility back Damien Traille to the No 15 shirt, in
preference to Maxime Médard - who moves to the wing in place
of the injured Benjamin Fall.
Traille impressed at full-back when France
beat South Africa 20-13 two weeks ago, and Lièvremont still
clearly has reservations about Médard's competence under the
high ball. But the highly-skilled Stade Toulousain player
has at least made it into the starting line-up, in
partnership with in-form club colleague Vincent Clerc, who
has scored tries in both internationals so far this month.
Perpignan's Maxime Mermoz is also unavailable
after picking up a thigh strain, paving the way for Yannick
Jauzion to retain his place in the centres, alongside David
Marty, while Stade Francais' Julien Dupuy gets the nod at
scrum-half along with Montpellier fly-half Francois
Trinh-Duc, who was so impressive against Samoa at the
weekend.
Lièvremont has also re-shuffled his pack with
Biarritz prop Fabien Barcella and Stade Toulousain hooker
William Servat both set to start after being rested for the
Samoa clash. Veteran Stade Francais prop Sylvain Marconnet -
who captained 'Les Bleus' against Samoa - completes the
front row.
Behind them the France coach has opted to
give Sébastien Chabal his second successive start, alongside
Stade Toulousain's Romain Millo-Chluski, with former captain
Lionel Nallet on the bench this time. Chabal caught the eye
after coming on as a second-half replacement against South
Africa, and was prominent again as the French dismantled
Samoa in Paris.
"I've read here and there that France will be
favourites for this match. Maybe so, but all I know is that
New Zealand in their last few games have been impressive and
are back to an exceptional level and they will also have
revenge on their minds," said Lièvremont.
The "revenge" he talked about was in
reference to France's drawn 1-1 series in New Zealand over
the summer, which included a superb
27-22 win in the first Test at Dunedin
in June.
France starting XV:
Damien Traille (Biarritz); Vincent Clerc
(Stade Toulousain), David Marty (Perpignan), Yannick Jauzion
(Stade Toulousain), Maxime Médard (Stade Toulousain);
Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Julien Dupuy (Stade
Francais); Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Fulgence
Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Thierry Dusautoir (Stade
Toulousain, capt); Romain Millo-Chluski (Stade Toulousain),
Sébastien Chabal (Racing-Métro 92); Sylvain Marconnet
(Perpignan), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Fabien
Barcella (Biarritz).
Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais),
Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Métro 92),
Julien Puricelli (Bayonne), Morgan Parra (Clermont
Auvergne), Yann David (Stade Toulousain), Cédric Heymans
(Stade Toulousain), Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne)
