Five French Changes

Vincent Clerc was surprisingly dropped to the replacements after his two tries against Scotland, but Malzieu’s thigh injury allows Clerc to regain his place – Anthony Floch takes his place on the bench (worryingly Clerc has a good record against Ireland!).

Rougerie starts on the right wing, and Skrela starts at number 10.

France’s other changes see hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, prop Nicolas Mas, lock Arnaud Mela and number 8 Julien Bonnaire come into the team.

FRANCE TEAM AND REPLACEMENTS (v Ireland, 2008 RBS Six Nations, Stade de France, Paris, Saturday, February 9, kick-off 5pm local time):

15 – Cedric Heymans (Toulouse)
14 – Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne)
13 – David Marty (Perpignan)
12 – Damien Traille (Biarritz)
11 – Vincent Clerc (Toulouse)
10 – David Skrela (Stade Francais)
9 – Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse)
1 – Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
2 – Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais)
3 – Lionel Faure (Sale Sharks)
4 – Arnaud Mela (Albi)
5 – Lionel Nallet (Castres) (capt)
6 – Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier)
7 – Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse)
8 – Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne)

Replacements:
16 – William Servat (Toulouse)
17 – Julien Brugnaut (Dax)
18 – Loic Jacquet (Clermont Auvergne)
19 – Louis Picamoles (Montpellier)
20 – Morgan Parra (Bourgoin)
21 – Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier)
22 – Anthony Floch (Clermont Auvergne)

Tags: France, Ireland, OSullivan, Six Nations
February 6th, 2008 | Posted in Six Nations | No Comments »