Back at 9: Morgan Parra
France coach Philippe Saint-André has made three changes to his starting XV for this Saturday's Test against Samoa at the Stade de France in Paris.
World Cup finalist Morgan Parra is promoted from the bench, swapping places with Maxime Machenaud at scrum-half.
Both the other changes are in the front row, where hooker Benjamin Kayser and Thomas Domingo take over from Dimitri Szarzewski and Yannick Forestier, who are amongst the replacements as Saint-André keeps the same matchday 23 that beat Argentina last week.
Saint-André said that he viewed the match against Samoa as the most important and potentially hazardous of the three games in the autumn Test series.
"We were the outsiders against Australia, it was 50-50 against Argentina and now we are in the role of favourites," he said.
"We will see if we are capabale of assuming that mantle and once again winning. We are trying to instill a culture of quality and consistency at the topmost level. That is the challenge that awaits us on Saturday."
"We know that traditionally in French rugby we prefer being the outsiders rather than the favourites. Now it is time to step up to the plate.
"We are fourth in the IRB world rankings and Samoa are ninth, so we can hardly consider ourselves as the outsiders this time.
"Samoa, though, are a team who are making giant strides forward. They are tough in the contact area, very aggressive and they have improved in the areas of collective organisation, defence and at the breakdown.
"It is up to us to produce the goods and enable us to make it three wins in a row."
A win over Samoa would give France a clean sweep of their autumn internationals against southern hemisphere sides for the first time since 2005 and ensure that they remain in the top band of four seeds for next month's 2015 World Cup draw in England.
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Yannick Forestier, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Yoann Huget.
Date: Saturday, November 24
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 20.00 local (19.00 GMT)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Comments
vaizpatu2011 says...
Samoas weakness may come from the #15. Samoa has 3 specialized Fullbacks that are all out now (1 in suspension and 2 injured). I expect France to put pressure on the 20 year old all 24/7 hehehe
Posted 04:19 23rd November 2012
Iyhel says...
@ carpelone: Machenaud started both tests...
Posted 19:42 22nd November 2012
Cdn_content says...
Sorry dude but if it ain't broke U don't fix it. Freddie to keep the jersey until he no longer earns it, and that should not happen with one bad game either.
And I like trinh-duc!
Posted 17:26 22nd November 2012
Rosbif says...
@carpelone, I hear what you say about the centres. It's a massive debate in France. I guess the logic is that Fofana, Fritz, Yann David, Fickou, Bastareaud, Rougerie etc are all similar versions of "smash it up" ball carriers. Few of them have the variety of passing and kicking game that you need at 12. Mermoz reads the game well. He is physical enough to defend the 10 12 channel when called upon. And the extra split second he has at 12 allows him to vary the game and make France less predictable. At least, that is what people are saying!
Although I agree that Parra is a little slow, I'm looking forward to seeing him pair up with Michalak. They both play 9 and 10, so you might see a lot of interchange, and therefore a faster tempo. Both have long accurate passes, so we might see width quickly on turnovers or kick return. Parra also puts his body on the line in defence. I've rarely seen him miss a tackle, even on much bigger men. Remember his tackle on Nonu in RWC final? I expect the Samoan back row to test him out, for sure.....
Feeling very nervous, but also excited...... ALLEZ!!
Posted 16:56 22nd November 2012
carpelone says...
France have still potential from improvement, as the centre pairing does not fully convince me (both). Especially Mermoz.
France took a big step forward when Machenaud finally entered the team in the second game against the Pumas.
Yachvili and Parra are too slow for Test Rugby.
Posted 14:14 22nd November 2012
Rosbif says...
The changes look logical. It's really about rotating the same 23 players to keep freshness I guess. Seems fairly certain the guys not starting will feature during the game at some point. I wonder who gets to kick goals? I'm guessing Michalak within 35m, Parra 35-45m and Fritz 45m+ hehehe.
The enduring mystery, to me, is why Fofana keeps getting picked at 14. Then again, PSA is getting to know this group pretty well. We should trust him :-)
Posted 12:39 22nd November 2012
fanducoq says...
PSa veut tester les Clermontois
Posted 11:48 22nd November 2012
Bash says...
I personally think Michalak, as good as he has been in the last two games, is the wrong choice against Samoa. Trinh-duc should be starting.
Posted 10:06 22nd November 2012