Thursday 24 November 2016 11:14, UK
France coach Guy Noves has selected Camille Lopez to start at fly-half in one of three changes for Saturday’s clash with New Zealand in Paris.
Clermont fly-half Lopez was called up for last weekend's 25-23 loss to Australia as a replacement for France's first-choice number ten Francois Trinh-Duc, who broke his arm against Samoa the previous week.
Toulouse's Jean-Marc Doussain started against the Wallabies but he has been relegated to the bench for the visit of the All Blacks.
It will be Lopez's first start for the Tricolors since the Clermont playmaker's appearance in the 29-0 Six Nations victory over Italy in March 2015.
"Jean-Marc Doussain played a match of great courage and had a virtually irreproachable turnout against Australia, even if every player has something to be forgiven for," Noves said.
"Bringing in Lopez opened the door for him to express his talent. He is under no pressure, we expect him to play with his own qualities even if he has to slot into our game plan."
Elsewhere, Racing Metro's Brice Dulin has been selected to start at full back in place of Scott Spedding of Clermont, who drops out of the 23-man squad entirely due to a foot injury.
"Spedding felt a pain in his foot after the Australia game. He trained on Wednesday but still felt pain," Noves explained.
"He thought he could play on Saturday, but taking into account his club (Clermont) and the talent of the player who'll take his place, we couldn't wait until the last minute. We preferred to allow Scott to recuperate."
There is one change to the pack with Toulon's Xavier Chiocci picked to start at loosehead prop ahead of Toulouse's Cyril Baille, who drops to the bench.
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Remi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Maxime Machenaud; 1 Xavier Chiocci, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Charles Ollivon, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 8 Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Julien Le Devedec, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Jean-Marc Doussain, 23 Gael Fickou.
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