Thursday 1 February 2018 11:47, UK
France coach Jacques Brunel has named teenager Matthieu Jalibert at fly-half for their Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday.
The 19-year-old will make his international debut at the Stade de France just three months after starting his first Top 14 match for Bordeaux-Begles.
He has been paired with in-form scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, after Morgan Parra was ruled out due to injury.
Jalibert said: "This year is going really fast, everything is happening to me at lightning speed."
Brunel said: "From the moment we thought he was up to playing at this level, there was no reason not to pick him. We think he's able to handle this role.
"He's got his bearings. Any nerves he might have had would have been when he was selected (for the squad two weeks ago), because that's when everyone took an interest in him.
"Of course, he'll have to prepare a bit because I'm sure the Irish will have looked at the videos and asked 'who's this guy, what can he do?'"
Another uncapped player, Geoffrey Palis, will start at full-back, as Brunel's reign begins with a tough test against a well-fancied Ireland side.
The new head coach took over from Guy Noves after a disappointing sequence of results in the autumn internationals.
Another quartet of uncapped players are on the bench in the shape of hooker Adrien Pelissie, props Cedate Gomes Sa and Dany Priso and back-row forward Marco Tauleigne.
Brunel says that Machenaud, who has a 94 per cent success rate this season, will kick the conversions and penalties.
France: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Remi Lamerat, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Guilhem Guirado (captain), 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Arthur Iturria, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Yacouba Camara, 8 Kevin Gourdon
Replacements: 16 Adrien Pelissie, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Marco Tauleigne, 21 Antoine Dupont, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Benjamin Fall
