PHILIPPE SAINT-ANDRE has wielded the axe for France’s meeting with England this weekend.
Half-backs Francois Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra have paid the price for the points dropped against Ireland last weekend ahead of the clash in Paris on Sunday.
Declan Kidney’s men were denied a famous victory as Les Blues reeling in a half-time deficit to draw 17-17.
Leicester scrum-half Julien Dupuy is in at No 9 along with Toulouse’s Lionel Beauxis featuring at fly-half.
Philippe Saint-Andre, whose team was on track to win the Grand Slam before the draw with Ireland, insists they can still win the Six Nations.
“We can still win the tournament. We will get together to produce a big performance against England,” he said.
“We will think about the following match after that. We will look to be a bit more tactically astute. At the highest level you can make a mistake once. The important thing is to make sure you don’t make the same mistake a second time.”
“What was incredible (against Ireland) was how we dominated the possession, the set-piece, the penalties, the line breaks and the tackles. But once again, dominating is not winning.”
Here’s the full side:
France: C Poitrenaud; V Clerc, A Rougerie, W Fofana, J Malzieu; L Beauxis, J Dupuy; J-B Poux, D Szarzewski, N Mas, P Pape, Y Maestri, T Dusautoir (capt), J Bonnaire, I Harinordoquy.
Replacements: W Servat, V Debaty, L Nallet, L Picamoles, M Parra, F Trinh-Duc, M Mermoz.
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