France name unchanged team to face Ireland in Six Nations

France have kept faith with the team that beat Scotland for Sunday's Six Nations trip to defending champions Ireland.

France head coach Jacques Brunel retained young half-backs Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, who impressed in the 27-10 bonus-point win over the Scots.

"The context will be different and I hope our pack will put the half-backs in good conditions," said Brunel.

With Ireland expected to rely on Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray's kicking game to unsettle the French, the 23-year-old Thomas Ramos will again start at full-back.

"We work on this every week," said Brunel. "The Irish know how to put you under pressure with high kicks, notably with Murray. We worked on this specifically."

Scrum-half Morgan Parra, who along with flyhalf Camille Lopez had been omitted for the Scotland game after criticising the management, has been ruled out due to injury.

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Lopez also misses out, with Toulon's Anthony Belleau named as the back-up fly-half.

Ireland lost to England at home in their Six Nations opener before beating Scotland and Italy away.

"We will have to make smart choices," said Brunel. "They have a very efficient defence and they are very good in the rucks.

"We need to be more consistent and be able to reproduce what we did against Scotland."

France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont; 1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 3 Demba Bamba, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5 Felix Lambey, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Arthur Iturria, 8 Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Gregory Alldritt, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Maxime Medard.