France v Australia: Teams

At Stade de France, Saturday November 22, KO 8pm (GMT)

Last updated: 18th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

France v Australia: Teams

Chabal: Starts against Wallabies

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France have made two changes ahead of Saturday's Test against Australia, with Sebastien Chabal and Sebastien Tillous-Borde drafted into their starting XV.

Chabal replaces Romain Millo-Chluski at lock while Tillous-Borde comes in at scrum-half for the injured Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

Marc Lievremont's side otherwise remains unchanged from that which started against the Pacific Islanders last weekend, a match France won 42-17.

Fulgence Ouedraogo is therefore retained in the back row, meaning Montpellier team-mate Louis Picamoles starts once again on the bench, while Lionel Faure keeps his place in the front row ahead of fellow prop Fabien Barcella.

Meanwhile, fly-half David Skrela has shrugged off a minor knock and will take the number 10 jersey for the third successive game.

Tillous-Borde came off the bench to score a try against the Islanders after replacing Elissalde, who was knocked out after a tackle by Napolioni Nalaga which earned the winger a red card.

Elissalde has yet to fully recover and will be out of action for two weeks.

Tillous-Borde's two previous two caps prior to his appearance on Saturday came against the Wallabies in France's summer tour.

Julien Tomas will be Tillous-Borde's understudy after coming into the squad as Elissalde's replacement.

Chabal has been used as an impact substitute in France's first two autumn Tests, the 12-6 win over Argentina and last week's match.

Although more normally associated as a number eight, he has been used as a lock by France since last year's World Cup.

Three changes for Wallabies

Meanwhile, Australia have made three changes to the starting XV which beat England - and they all come in the pack which performed so well at Twickenham.

Prop Ben Alexander replaces Benn Robinson while Dean Mumm comes into the back row, pushing Hugh McMeniman - who started as a flanker against England - into the second row instead of Mark Chisholm.

Wycliff Palu is recalled at number eight in place of Richard Brown, who injured his knee at the weekend.

Palu therefore returns to the starting line-up for the first time since suffering a medial knee ligament injury against New Zealand in September.

Coach Robbie Deans keeps his back line unchanged, with winger Lote Tuqiri still continuing his recovery from a knee operation.

With France smarting after losing both their Tests during the summer, opposing lock Nathan Sharpe said he was anticipating quite a battle in Paris.

"It's a big challenge for us as a team, trying to beat France away from home," he said.

"We'll have to play as a team and to the best of our ability. It's up to us to transfer the performance of last week to this weekend.

"France are always dangerous and playing a full-on France is going to be a tough challenge for us."

Captain Stirling Mortlock will play his 75th Test, a feat which will pull him level with Jason Little as the 10th most-capped Wallaby in history.

France: 15-Maxime Medard (Toulouse); 14-Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), 13-Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), 12-Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), 11-Cedric Heymans; 10-David Skrela (both Toulouse), 9-Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); 1-Lionel Faure (Sale), 2-Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), 3-Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), 4-Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), 5-Sebastien Chabal (Sale), 6-Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), 7-Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), 8-Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Benoit Lecouls (Toulouse), Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Julien Tomas (Bourgoin), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Alexis Palisson (Brive).

Australia: 15-Adam Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies); 14-Peter Hynes (Queensland Reds), 13-Ryan Cross (Western Force), 12-Stirling Mortlock (ACT Brumbies, capt), 11-Drew Mitchell (Western Force); 10-Matt Giteau (Western Force), 9-Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs); 1-Ben Alexander (ACT Brumbies), 2-Stephen Moore (Queensland Reds), 3-Al Baxter (NSW Waratahs), 4-Hugh McMeniman (Queensland Reds), 5-Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), 6-Dean Mumm (NSW Waratahs), 7-G Smith (ACT Brumbies), 8-Wycliff Palu (NSW Waratahs).
Replacements: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu (both NSW Waratahs), Mark Chisholm (ACT Brumbies), David Pocock (Western Force), Sam Cordingley, Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane (all Queensland Reds).