France v South Africa: Teams
France captain Thierry Dusautoir is determined to prove his side are capable of beating southern hemisphere sides on a regular basis.
Last Updated: 13/11/09 6:17pm
France captain Thierry Dusautoir is determined to prove his side are capable of beating southern hemisphere sides on a regular basis.
Dusautoir will lead Les Bleus out against South Africa on Friday looking to build on their summer success in New Zealand.
France beat the All Blacks 27-22 in the first Test before suffering a narrow defeat in the second Test.
And Dusautoir wants victories over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to become a regular occurrence rather than an "exploit".
"We beat them as we can and each time we do it, it's dubbed an exploit," he said.
"The goal is to beat them a little more regularly and show that the France team can become a major rugby nation, not only thanks to its history but also to its performances."
Coach Marc Lievremont has opted to name a youthful centre pairing of Yann David and Maxime Mermoz, who have just five caps between them.
But in the pack Lievremont has gone for experience, with Imanol Harinordoquy and Louis Picamoles teaming up with Dusautoir in the back row, while hooker William Servat comes in alongside props Fabien Barcella and Nicolas Mas.
Confident
South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has made four changes to the line-up that faced the All Blacks in September.
Zane Kirchner gets the nod ahead of Frans Steyn at full-back, while JP Pietersen returns on the wing in place of Odwa Ndungane.
Centre Adi Jacobs also comes into the backline, while in the pack Ryan Kankowski will start at No.8.
And de Villiers is confident the Boks can record their first win in France since 1997.
He said: "I've had good experiences here with junior teams and also the Boks in 1997, when we last had our opportunity to beat France.
"France is one of those teams we respect and I expect them to come out with all guns blazing."
France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewzski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Medard, 23 Thomas Domingo
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (capt), 2 Bismarck Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier