No changes for France

Lievremont keeps faith in winning formula

By Rachel Griffiths   Last updated: 15th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

No changes for France

Lievremont: Has named unchanged squad

We think that this France team has what it takes to beat England on Saturday night.

Marc Lievremont
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Grand Slam hopefuls France have named an unchanged 23-man squad for their RBS Six Nations finale against England on Saturday.

Coach Marc Lievremont has kept faith in the same squad that saw off Italy 46-20 in Paris on Sunday and Wales 26-20 in Cardiff last month.

Les Bleus are the only undefeated team left in the tournament after storming to wins against Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy and are just 80 minutes away from completing their first clean sweep since 2004.

Complicated

"Even if it's obvious that it will be more complicated against England than against our Italian friends we think that this France team has what it takes to beat England on Saturday night," said Lievremont.

"They were efficient in Cardiff firstly and in Stade de France yesterday (against Italy). It's true that we had indicated that we were looking at changes or the possibility of changes.

"It was to have all our cards in hand in order to be more competitive against England. It was also to warn the players that nothing could be taken for granted, to put on some pressure indirectly before the Italy match.

"The outcome of yesterday's match, the comfort of the game in its continuity and coaching, an extremely positive outcome in terms of injuries, allowed us to go in this direction."

Les Bleus' only rivals for the Six Nations crown are reigning champions Ireland, who sit two points behind them in the table and will face Scotland in Dublin on Saturday.

Lievremont will announce his final line-up on Tuesday, with Clement Baiocco of Racing-Metro, who did not feature in round four, expected to miss out on selection barring any injuries midweek.

France squad - Forwards: T Domingo (Clermont), C Baiocco (Racing-Metro), N Mas (Perpignan), J Poux (Stade Toulousain), W Servat (Stade Toulousain), D Szarzewski (StadeFrancais), S Chabal (Racing-Metro), L Nallet (Racing-Metro), J Pierre (Clermont), J Bonnaire (Clermont), T Dusautoir (Stade Toulousain), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), A Lapandry (Clermont).
Backs: M Parra (Clermont), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Y Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), D Marty (Perpignan), M Andreu (Castres Olympique), J Malzieu (Clermont), A Palisson (Brive), C Poitrenaud (Stade Toulousain), D Yachvili (Biarritz).