Sean Farrell reports from Swansea
FRANCE COACH PHILIPPE Saint Andre has made three changes to the team which lost Sunday’s Pool D clash to Ireland for the Rugby World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand.
The big change for Les Bleus is the omission of centre Mathieu Bastareaud. The Toulon man was exposed by the excellent Robbie Henshaw in the 24- 9 defeat and is dropped to the bench with Alexandre Dumoulin now partnering Wesley Fofana in midfield.
Scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde drops out of the matchday 23 as Morgan Parra is named to start in the number nine jersey with Rory Kockott in reserve.
Bernard LeRoux, arguably France’s form forward in this tournament, has also been promoted from the bench and comes in at openside at the expense of Damian Chouly.
France (v New Zealand)
15. Scott Spedding
14. Noa Nakaitaci
13. Alexandre Dumoulin
12. Wesley Fofana
11. Brice Dulin
10. Frederic Michalak
9. Morgan Parra
1. Eddy Ben Arous
2. Guilhem Guirado
3. Rabah Slimani
4. Pascal Pape
5. Yoann Maestri
6. Thierry Dusautoir (captain)
7. Bernard Le Roux
8. Louis Picamoles
Replacements:
16. Dimitri Szarzewski
17. Vincent Debaty
18. Nicolas Mas
19. Damien Chouly
20. Yannick Nyanga
21. Rory Kockott
22. Remi Tales
23. Mathieu Bastareaud
