Trio return for France
Tuesday 8 March 2011 10:14, UK
France number 8 Sebastien Chabal has kept his place in the side to face Italy in Rome on Saturday ahead of Imanol Harinordoquy.
Marconnet replaces Domingo in front row
France number 8 Sebastien Chabal has kept his place in the side to face Italy in Rome on Saturday ahead of Imanol Harinordoquy. France coach Marc Lievremont has kept faith with the former Sale Sharks forward, who was recalled to the starting XV for the 17-9 defeat by England at Twickenham last month. "I want to give him playing time. I watched again the game and his display didn't seem catastrophic to me," Lievremont said. "Imanol will start against Wales." Dimitri Yachvili will again start at scrum-half, while prop Sylvain Marconnet replaces Thomas Domingo in the front row. "Thomas played a lot of matches recently and I wanted to see Sylvain," Lievremont added. Full-back Maxime Medard missed the defeat at Twickenham with a hamstring injury but returns to the starting line-up with Clement Poitrenaud reverting to the bench. Veteran flanker Harinordoquy slips out of the starting XV with Julien Bonnaire promoted from the replacements. "It's frustrating for us to see England going for the Grand Slam but we must stay in the tournament and aim for an honourable finish," said Lievremont. "Playing away to Italy is never that straightforward. We have handled them well in the last two years, but we saw that the Italians came close to defeating both Ireland and Wales. "If they lose against us they will be playing for the wooden spoon against Scotland, so we know that they are going to be full of determination." France: 15-Maxime Medard, 14-Yoann Huget, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Vincent Clerc, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Dimitri Yachvili, 8-Sebastien Chabal, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Lionel Nallet, 4-Julien Pierre, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-William Servat, 1-Sylvain Marconnet.Replacements: 16-Guilhem Guirado, 17-Luc Ducalcon, 18-Jerome Thion, 19-Imanol Harinordoquy, 20-Morgan Parra, 21-Damien Traille, 22-Clement Poitrenaud
