France continue revolving door policy
As expected, France coach Marc Lièvremont has continued with his policy of blooding new players and has chosen five new players in his squad to face Italy on March 9.
As expected, France coach Marc Lièvremont has continued with his policy of blooding new players and has chosen five new players in his squad to face Italy on March 9.
Loose forward Ibrahim Diarra (Montauban), hooker Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), scrum-half Julien Tomas (Montpellier), wing Yann David (Bourgoin) and lock Fabien Barcella (Auch) have all received their first call-up for national duty.
Montpellier has four players in the group, all of whom are products of their training centre.
There are three other changes to the squad that faced England.
Imanol Harinordoquy and Yannick Jauzion have been recalled after long absences as well as Julien Malzieu who was forced to leave the squad because of a thigh injury sustained before the test against Ireland.
As a result, Cédric Heymans, William Servat and Thierry Dusautoir (all from Toulouse), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), David Marty (Perpignan), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), David Skrela (Stade Français) and Lionel Faure (Sale) will return to their clubs.
Dimitri Yachvili can expect to be in the starting line-up thanks to his goal-kicking prowess.
With Heymans being rested we could very well see an all Clermont back-three in the form of Julien Malzieu, Anthony Floch and Aurélien Rougerie.
“We're concentrating on ourselves [and not the opposition]. We're in the same perspective that we were for the game against Scotland,” assistant coach Emile N'tamack told Le Site.
“We have players we want to see and that doesn't mean we're taking the game against Italy or the tournament lightly. We have confidence in our players.”
Lièvremont said: “Age is one of the factors [in selection] but not the only one. There will be far fewer new players for the match against Wales.”
France:
Forwards: Fabien Barcella (Auch), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Jean-Baptiste Poux(Stade Toulousain) , Guilerm Guirado (Perpignan), Dimitri Szarzewski(Stade Français) , Lionel Nallet(Castres), Pascal Papé (Stade Français), Jérôme Thion(Biarritz) , Ibrahim Diarra (Montauban), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Fulgence Ouedraogo(Montpellier) , Imanol Harinorodoquy (Biarritz)
Backs: Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Julien Tomas (Montpellier), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Yann David (Bourgoin), Julien Malzieu (Clermont), Anthony Floch (Clermont), Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont), Vincent Clerc (Stade Toulousain).