France call Médard and Vahaamahina

Editor

France have called up Toulouse back Maxime Médard and Perpignan lock Sébastien Vahaamahina into their Six Nations squad.

France have called up Toulouse back Maxime Médard and Perpignan lock Sébastien Vahaamahina into their squad for next week's Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.

Médard replaces Racing Metro wing Benjamin Fall while 21-year-old Vahaamahina, who won one cap off the bench against Australia in November, comes in for Toulon's Jocelino Suta.

“We've made two changes as we prepare for our final two games on the basis of our match against the English,” said head coach Philippe Saint André.

“Our squad functioned better at Twickenham. We need to build on that progress. With a lot of youngsters still learning at the highest level, this continuity is important.

“We watched all the French Championship fixtures from this weekend and reviewed our match. Maxime Médard has shown that he is back to his best level after his injury and will bring us his skills and experience.

“As for Sébastien Vahaamahina, he participated in the November Tests with the French national side. At the moment he is performing very well with his club. He has a lot of room for progress which is good for the French team.

“They are players that we've been following for a long time in view of the 2015 World Cup and it's good that they reintegrate into the group so they can work with the squad and get game time.”

France squad:

Forwards (13): Vincent Debaty, Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Dimitri Szarzewski, Luc Ducalcon, Nicolas Mas, Yoann Maestri, Christophe Samson, Yannick Nyanga, Thierry Dusautoir, Antonie Claassen, Louis Picamoles, Sébastien Vahaamahina.

Backs (10): Maxime Machenaud, Morgan Parra, Frédéric Michalak, François Trinh-Duc, Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fofana, Florian Fritz, Yoann Huget, Vincent Clerc, Maxime Médard.