France v Canada: Rugby World Cup Pool D preview

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has made 12 changes for Thursday's World Cup Pool D clash with Canada at Milton Keynes.

Centre Wesley Fofana is the only man to retain his place and position - at inside centre - from the team which beat Romania 38-11.

Brice Dulin moves from full-back to the left wing, and up front Bernard Le Roux moves back from the second row to the openside flank.

Otherwise it is a new set of faces to take on the Canadians.

Scott Spedding returns at full-back, while Castres star Remy Grosso will make his international debut on the right wing.

Fofana reforms his midfield partnership with Mathieu Bastareaud, with Frederic Michalak and Sebastien Tillous-Bornde the half-backs.

The front row sees Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado and Rabah Slimani, with Pascal Pape and Youann Maesti packing down behind them.

Le Roux is joined by skipper Thierry Dusautoir and No 8 Damien Chouly in the back row.

France's XV includes 11 players who started their first match against Italy, although there is no place in the 23 for Louis Picamoles or Noa Nakaitaci, while Alexandre Dumoulin is on the bench.

Canada head coach Kieran Crowley has opted to freshen up the team that suffered a narrow loss against Italy, with five of the players coming into the team playing in their first Rugby World Cup.

"We know they have a very good forward pack, tall lineout, their scrum is reasonably good," said Crowley.

"They have some big ball runners with the likes of Mathieu Bastareaud, and they have got Scott Spedding at the back who is a pretty good counter-attacker."

"You've got to know the players you are coming up against and how the team functions and the coach's philosophy. But in the end it comes down to our own performance."

France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Remy Grosso, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Pascal Pape, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Damien Chouly.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Alexandre Dumoulin.

Canada: 15 Matt Evans, 14 Phil Mackenzie, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Nathan Hirayama, 9 Phil Mack; 1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Aaron Carpenter, 3 Doug Wooldridge, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 6 Kyle Gilmour, 7 Richard Thorpe, 8 Tyler Ardron (c).

Replacements: 16 Ray Barkwill, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Andrew Tiedemann, 19 Evan Olmstead, 20 Nanyak Dala, 21 Gordon McRorie, 22 Harry Jones, 23 Conor Trainor.