France v Australia: Teams

At Stade de France, Saturday, November 27, kick-off 7.45pm

Last updated: 27th November 2010  

France v Australia: Teams

Rougerie: Focused

Related links

Teams

Also see

France centre Aurelien Rougerie has called on his side to retain their focus against Australia on Saturday.

Les Bleus complete their autumn internationals against Australia, following victories over Fiji and Argentina.

And although the Wallabies were taken apart by England at Twickenham, Rougerie insists the tourists have plenty of quality - particularly in the backs - to hurt them.

"They're a very mobile, complete team," said Rougerie.

"You obviously have to say that Australia are a very good team who cause problems for lots of defences and who have players of real quality.

"We won't talk ourselves down either, there's no point, but we'll have to be vigilant. They have lots of individuality with (Adam Ashley) Cooper, (Matt) Giteau and (Drew) Mitchell, plus (Kurtley) Beale at full-back; it's the stuff of dreams."

Coach Marc Lievremont has recalled Fulgence Ouedraogo and Jerome Porical following the 15-9 victory over Argentina, with Julien Bonnaire and Marc Andreu making way.

Nallet doubt

But France are without experienced lock Lionel Nallet due to a back injury with Jerome Thion promoted to the starting line-up.

A decision on Nallet's fitness was expected to be taken on Saturday but he decided not to wait so that Thion and replacement Romain Millo-Chluski could prepare for the game.

The Wallabies head to Paris on the back of a convincing win over Italy, with coach Robbie Deans making just the two changes.

Scrum-half Will Genia and winger James O'Connor have been recalled, which means Berrick Barnes retains his place in the centres ahead of Matt Giteau.

"Berrick played first centre in our match against France in Sydney last year (a 34-13 win for the hosts)," explained Deans.

"Barnes and Giteau aren't totally different but they have specific qualities. We think that Berrick will be more useful to us."

France: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jerome Schuster, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Marc Andreu

Australia:15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper
Replacements:16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Lachie Turner

SkyBet
Click here for more betting

Post to your View!

Be the first to post a comment on this story

Add Comment*

Send us your views

Are you a Sky Sports subscriber?

*All fields required, your email address will be kept private