Poitrenaud back for France

France coach Marc Lievremont has been forced to change his line-up, with Clement Poitrenaud recalled for the injured Maxime Mermoz.

Injury to Mermoz forces Lievremont to tweak his line-up

France coach Marc Lievremont has been forced to change his winning line-up due to the injury to Maxime Mermoz. Centre Mermoz damaged his shoulder in the 34-21 victory over Scotland in Les Bleus' RBS Six Nations opener in Paris. And as a result Clement Poitrenaud comes back into the starting XV to face Ireland in Dublin on Sunday. Poitrenaud will start at full-back at Lansdowne Road with Damien Traille moving to the inside centre spot vacated by Mermoz, who could be out for the season. Poitrenaud's place on the bench is taken by the experienced Yannick Jauzion, with prop Sylvain Marconnet also named among the replacements ahead of Luc Ducalcon. Lievremont said: "As announced, there is stability even if the good performances of the replacements against Scotland could have made us think again. "I think Damien is in a good moment, better physically and mentally than in November. I already said he is a master player capable of playing in all positions. "Yannick could have played but Clement made a good appearance as a substitute. "We end up with the same back line that finished the match against Scotland." France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Francois Trinh Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sebastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc