France coach, Philippe Saint-Andre has made two changes to the France side that beat Scotland a week ago in Murrayfield in the starting XV which will take to the pitch to face Ireland in Sunday’s rearranged RBS 6 Nations 2012 2nd Round fixture.
Clement Poitrenaud will come in at full-back for Maxime Medard. Julien Bonnaire has worked his way into a starting berth at openside flanker, pushing Imanol Harinordoquy to number eight. Louis Picamoles, who was no 8 last week, drops to the replacements bench as a result.
This vastly experienced French starting XV has an average age of 29.2 – and 660 caps – as the RWC runners up look to pick up a result that takes them one step closer to another 6 Nations Championship. France have a Grand Slam on the cards, if they can defeat an Ireland team who have already suffered an opening match defeat, at home to Wales.
France Starting XV to Face Ireland, RBS 6 Nations 2012
- 15 Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)
- 14 Vincent Clerc (Toulouse)
- 13 Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne)
- 12 Wesley Fofana (Clermont Auvergne)
- 11 Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne)
- 10 Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier)
- 9 Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne)
- 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse)
- 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais Paris)
- 3 Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
- 4 Pascal Pape (Stade Francais Paris)
- 5 Yoann Maestri (Toulouse)
- 6 Thierry Dusatouir (Toulouse, Capt)
- 7 Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne)
- 8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz Olympique)
France Replacements
- 16 William Servat (Toulouse)
- 17 Vincent Debaty (Clermont Auvergne)
- 18 Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro 92)
- 19 Louis Picamoles (Toulouse)
- 20 Julien Dupuy (Stade Francais Paris)
- 21 Lionel Beauxis (Toulouse)
- 22 Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan)
France v Ireland will kick off at 15:00 GMT (16:00 CET) on Sunday 4th March 2012 at Stade de France, Paris, France.
