Dusautoir back as France overhaul XV

Editor

France have made ten changes to their side for Saturday's second Test against Australia in Melbourne as Thierry Dusautoir returns.

France have made ten changes to their starting XV for Saturday's second Test against Australia in Melbourne as skipper Thierry Dusautoir returns.

After last weekend's massacre in Brisbane, coach Philippe Saint-André has completely overhauled his matchday squad as he welcomes back the players who featured in the Top 14 Final.

Wing Yoann Huget, centre Wesley Fofana, number eight Damien Chouly, lock Yoann Maestri and hooker Guilhem Guirado are the only survivors from the starting XV that lost 50-23 in the first Test.

Inspirational captain Dusautoir starts on the flank having requested to sit out the tour opener.

He is joined in the run-on side by fly-half Rémi Talès and full-back Brice Dulin from Castres as well as centre Mathieu Bastareaud and prop Alexandre Menini from Toulon, who were not considered last week due to their last arrival following the French domestic final.

Toulouse wing Maxime Medard and club team-mate Yannick Nyanga also start while Stade Français prop Rabah Slimani takes over from last week's captain Nicolas Mas at tighthead.

Morgan Parra has also been selected at scrum-half following his 10-minute cameo off the bench at Suncorp Stadium where he scored France's first try. Frédéric Michalak will cover both half-back positions from the bench that features just two backs.

Louis Picamoles has been named amongst the replacements as the French make 13 changes in all.

“We were all ashamed, whether it was the staff or the players,” admitted Saint-André in referenec to last week's loss.

“Going down by 27 points is never pleasant. There have been talks, videos, recovery because that game left physical and mental scars.

“We have prepared ourselves for a big game, a big fight.”

“When you ship as many points as we did and put in such a bad performance it's normal to have some turnover in the group.

“Thierry (Dusautoir) will bring us an enormous amount of experience, stability and fighting spirit to the group,” the coach added.

“We have a quality bench with experience in the forwards who will offer a strong finish to the game,” Saint-André added.

“We decided to put six forwards on the bench because we had so much trouble defensively in moving around in the second half.

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Rémi Talès , 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Antoine Burban, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Remi Lamerat.

Date: Saturday, June 21
Venue: Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Kick-off: 20:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)