France
head coach Marc Lièvremont has made 12 changes to his
starting XV for this weekend’s home clash with Samoa, with
Stade Francais prop Sylvain Marconnet taking the captain’s
armband.
Lièvremont has opted for wholesale changes from the
20-13 victory over South Africa
with the combined view of resting crucial players for the
following weekend’s game against the All Blacks, and also to
run his eye over several youngsters.
Bayonne
winger and Top 14's leading try-scorer Benjamin Fall (20)
comes in for his Test debut, as does Clermont Auvergne and
former France Under-21 flanker Alexandre Lapandry (20),
while Maxime Médard, Yannick Jauzion and David Marty all get
starts after missing out against the Springboks.
Sébastien Chabal is also in the starting XV, alongside
Pascal Papé in the second row, while Marconnet, Dimitri
Szarzewski and Thomas Domingo complete a new-look front row.
Fly-half
Francois Trinh-Duc is one of only three players retained
from the starting line-up in Toulouse last Friday, and he
will now form a half-back partnership with Clermont’s Morgan
Parra.
The
other two players who retained their starting berths are
number eight Louis Picamoles and winger Vincent Clerc.
France starting XV against Samoa:
15 Maxime Médard,
14 Benjamin Fall, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11
Vincent Clerc, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8
Louis Picamoles, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Alexandre Lapandry, 5
Pascal Papé,
4 Sébastien
Chabal, 3 Sylvain Marconnet (c), 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1
Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:
16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski,
19 Thierry Dusautoir, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Damien Traille, 22
Yann David, 23 Fabien Barcella.
Centre
Maxime Mermoz, who was among five players released to
their clubs earlier in the week, will not play for Perpignan
against SCA Albi on Friday after picking up a knock in
France’s 20-13 win against South Africa.
It
remains to be seen how many of the others are club action,
with Stade Toulousain pair Cedric Heymans and William
Servat, Biarritz’s Imanol Harinordoquy and Racing-Metro’s
Lionel Nallet all in theory available for club action.
Elsewhere, there are no French representatives on this
year’s IRB Player of the Year shortlist.
Former
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll is the hot favourite to win
after being nominated alongside national colleague Jamie
Heaslip, England’s Tom Croft, New Zealand’s Richie McCaw,
Australian Matt Giteau and the South African pair of Fourie
du Preez and Racing-Metro’s Francois Steyn.
Steyn’s
inclusion has caused some consternation back in South Africa
with many believing his namesake Morne Steyn was the
intended nominee, but that there was a clerical error.
Francois Steyn certainly enjoyed a good year,
but it was the boot of Morne Steyn that proved integral to
the Springboks’ summer success over the British Lions and
subsequent Tri-Nations victory. He also help guide South
African franchise the Bulls to the Super 14 title.
If
O’Driscoll does win he will become only the second Irish
player to do so, after Keith Wood won the inaugural award in
2001.
The
final announcement will be made after the conclusion of the
November internationals.
Finally,
the FFR has apologized to its South African
counterpart after the latter said it was “horrified” by the
wobbly rendition of its national anthem – Nkosi Sikelel’
iAfrika – at last Friday’s international. FFR president
Pierre Camou admitted the anthem had been a “debacle”,
prompting South African rugby president Oregan Hoskins to
reply: “They’ve offered their unreserved apologies, which I
accept.”
The
reggae version of the anthem was sung by Ras Dumisani, a
South-African born French resident.
French
team manager Jo Maso said Dumisani had been chosen to
perform the anthem by the South African embassy. “It’s the
South African embassy that put forward this man and we
respected their choice,” he confirmed.
