France ring changes for Scotland

smackbunnybaby

looks like Lievremont has looked to stamp his mark straight away


New coach Marc Lievremont has named six uncapped players in his squad for France's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on 3 February.

Props Julien Brugnault of Dax and Lionel Faure of Sale earn call-ups.

So too do Albi lock Arnaud Mela, Bourgoin scrum-half Morgan Parra, Montpellier fly-half François Trinh-Duc and Clermont centre Julien Malzieu.

Sebastien Chabal, Jerome Thion, Clement Poitrenaud, Pierre Mignoni and David Marty have all been omitted.

Castres lock Lionel Nallet will captain a much-changed line-up, the first chosen by Lievremont, who replaced Bernard Laporte after the World Cup.

Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Christophe Dominici and Serge Betsen have all retired from internationals.

Utility back Frederic Michalak has taken a year off from international duty to play Super-14 rugby in South Africa.

Props Sylvain Marconnet, Pieter De Villiers and Olivier Milloud were not considered for selection because of injury.

France, beaten by England in the 2007 World Cup semi-finals, are bidding for a third successive Six Nations title.

Lievremont said: "Over the past three months, we have watched a lot of matches and followed the progress of French rugby. We have considered everyone.

"We took into consideration everything, the players in form and the team we are to be playing against."

French Rugby Federation president Bernard Lapasset described the coach's choices as "courageous."

Backs: Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Morgan Parra, Francois Trin-Dhuc, David Skrela, Florian Fritz, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, Julien Malzieu, Cedric Heymans, Aurelien Rougerie.

Forwards: Julien Brugnaut, Lionel Faure, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Loic Jacquet, Lionel Nallet, Arnaud Mela, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Elvis Vermeulen.

cruiserweight

Still a formidable enough looking squad. I am going to that game, looking forward to seeing some of the french players. A sneak preview for the game six days later.

Steffano2002

I'm worried because it's such a big change to what we've been used to with Laporte during the last 8 years but at the same time I'm excited about this new era!

However I'm pretty sure we'll have a poor VI Nations and the next couple of years will probably yield poor results. We shall see! :rolleyes:

Rattlehead_ie

Steff you always say that and you guys do well. Its defo a changed squad
No Chabal, Jerome Thion, Clement Poitrenaud, Pierre Mignoni + the likes of Ibanez and some other retirements from the World Cup. I think this is may be a bumpy start to 6N for the French but there is a deveolping team here which will be good for them.

Steffano2002

We'll see... I'm looking forward to seeing this new-look Equipe de France play but I'm not expecting great things TBH... And Lievremont forgot to select a full back... :rolleyes: