France
head coach Marc Lièvremont has made seven changes to his
starting XV for Saturday's Test against Argentina in Buenos
Aires.
His
revamped side reflects his dissatisfaction with the effort
shown in their 42-17 humbling against South Africa two weeks
ago, with both full-back Jérôme Porical and centre Lionel
Mazars coming in for their full international debuts.
Both
impressed during last weekend's 37-14 victory over Argentina
'A' and now have their chance to stake a claim for France's
World Cup squad.
Other
back line changes include winger Julien Malzieu coming in
for club colleague Aurélien Rougerie, while Stade Toulousain
centre Florian Fritz gets his first start under Lièvremont
after Perpignan duo Maxime Mermoz and David Marty were both
dropped.
So, of
the seven starting backs against South Africa only three
have been retained to play against Argentina. One of those
is Stade Toulousain winger Vincent Clerc, with the other two
being the half-back pairing of Morgan Parra and Francois
Trinh-Duc.
It will
be the seventh consecutive start for the Parra/Trinh-Duc
partnership, with Lièvremont clearly now hoping they can
continue to build their relationship through to the 2011
World Cup.
Elsewhere, the France coach has made three changes in the
pack, with Stade Toulousain's Louis Picamoles coming in for
the injured Wenceslas Lauret - and starting at number eight
- Biarritz prop Fabien Barcella getting the nod ahead of
Clermont's Thomas Domingo, and Stade Francais lock Pascal
Papé being preferred to Stade Toulousain's Romain
Millo-Chluski.
Lièvremont admitted that fatigue had played a
significant part in his forward changes after a long
domestic and international season, but confirmed the
re-jigged back line was more in response to the recent poor
showing in Cape Town.
"We were
pretty disappointed by a number of the three quarters. The
Fritz-Mazars centre pairing deserved a chance to show us
what they can do at this higher level," explained
Lièvremont.
"Jérôme
Porical and Julien Malzieu played very well on Friday
(against Argentina 'A') with lots of vigour and enthusiasm,"
he added.
France's
preferred starting centres during their triumphant Six
Nations campaign were Yannick Jauzion and Mathieu
Bastareaud, but neither made this tour after picking up late
season injuries.
France starting XV: Porical (Clermont Auvergne); Clerc
(Stade Toulousain), Fritz (Stade Toulousain), Mazars
(Bayonne), Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne); Trinh-Duc
(Montpellier), Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Picamoles (Stade
Toulousain), Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Dusautoir (Stade
Toulousain), Nallet (Racing-Métro 92), Pape (Stade
Francais), Mas (Perpignan), Szarzewski (Stade Francais),
Barcella (Biarritz)
Subs: Guirado (Perpignan), Poux (Stade Toulousain),
Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Lamboley (Stade Toulousain),
Yachvili (Biarritz), Skrela (Stade Toulousain), Rougerie
(Clermont Auvergne)
