France v Wales: Teams
Morgan Parra insists France have "nothing to lose" after being written off ahead of their clash against defending champions Wales.
Last Updated: 28/02/09 12:27am
France scrum-half Morgan Parra insists his side have "nothing to lose" after being written off ahead of their RBS Six Nations clash against defending champions Wales.
Having already lost to Ireland and seen star fly-half Lionel Beauxis ruled out through injury, France coach Marc Lievremont has named an experimental XV - with no recognised No.10 - for the visit of Wales to the Stade de France.
The biggest change has seen Benoit Baby moved from centre to fill-in for Beauxis and he will form a new-look half-back pairing with 20-year-old Parra.
However, although Wales go into the match as the odds-on favourites to win, Parra insists the home side can produce an upset.
"I am feeling the pressure but if we beat this team, the best around at the moment, people will see us differently," said the Bourgoin scrum-half.
"The France team often pull through when people are not expecting much of them.
"We have nothing to lose, we are going to relax and try to rediscover the game that we want to put in place.
"People aren't expecting a lot from us but perhaps we will produce our best match of the Six Nations."
Parra comes into the side ahead of Sebastien Tillous-Borde, while Lievremont has also handed a debut to Mathieu Bastareaud and recalled Julien Malzieu, Sylvain Marconnet and Sebastien Chabal.
Despite the changes to the France line-up, backs coach Rob Howley insists Wales will not be under-estimating Les Bleus.
And former Wales scrum-half Howley is expecting a high-scoring encounter in Paris.
Strengths
He said: "We are well aware of their strengths. International rugby is about what happens on the day, in that 80 minutes. They have world-class players, and coaches deal with the short turnaround.
"We have two sides here that play attractive rugby. France have that X-factor, that instinctiveness, that mercurialness, with players who can beat opposition defences on a sixpence. So do we.
"That has been the ingredient to Wales-France games over the years. There have been 60-70 points in these games, and I'm sure it won't be any different this time."
One player can beat the opposition defences is Shane Williams, with the IRB player of the year returning to the line-up in place of Mark Jones.
Williams has recovered from injury after missing the victory over England, however fellow Osprey Gavin Henson has had to settle for a place on the bench.
France: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Benoit Baby, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet (captain), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayzer, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.
Wales: 15 L Byrne (Ospreys), 14 L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), 13 T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), 12 J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), 11 S Williams (Ospreys), 10 S Jones (Scarlets), 9 M Phillips (Ospreys), 1G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), 2 M Rees (Scarlets), 3 A Jones (Ospreys), 4 I Gough (Ospreys), 5 A-W Jones (Ospreys), 6 R Jones (Ospreys, capt), 7 M Williams (Cardiff Blues), 8 A Powell (Cardiff Blues).
Replacements: 16 H Bennett (Ospreys), 17 J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), 18 L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), 19 D Jones (Scarlets), 20 D Peel (Sale Sharks), 21 J Hook (Ospreys), 22 G Henson (Ospreys).