Chabal switch for France

France coach Marc Lievremont has made four changes to his line-up for the trip to Twickenham on Sunday.

Coach Lievremont makes four changes

France coach Marc Lievremont has made four changes to his line-up for the trip to Twickenham on Sunday. Benoit Baby, Fulgence Ouedraogo and Fabien Barcella are all omitted from the starting XV, while Sebastien Chabal switches from the second row to openside flanker. Montpellier's Francois Trinh-Duc comes into the fly-half shirt having replaced the injured Baby during the win over Wales, while Chabal's move opens the door for Jerome Thion to shine in the second row. Despite making his name in the back row, fans' favourite Chabal has only ever started at lock under Lievremont. However, Les Bleus coach has now decided to give Chabal the chance to run riot at Twickenham. "He is a versatile player," said Lievremont. "He can play in both departments with just as much success. And he will be up against players he knows well." The other change sees Sale's Lionel Faure replace Barcella in the front-row. On the bench there are places for the recalled Florian Fritz, Damien Traille and Julian Bonnaire.

Experience

Louis Picamoles, who was initially dropped from the squad for the match, is also named among the replacements after being called in for the injured Romain Millo-Chluski. Having preferred to experiment with his side in previous games, Lievremont's squad to face England has a more experienced look. Chabal, Faure, Marconnet, Thion, Bonnaire, Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans and Lionel Nallet are all in their 30s - however Lievremont insists age is not an issue. "We haven't put an accent on age," he added. "It's true that this team has more experience but the players who return have never left the squad of 30-40 players we have had. "We can be happy that these players in their 30s are managing to last." France: 15 Maxime Medard (Toulouse), 14 Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), 13 Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse), 10 Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), 9 Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), 1 Lionel Faure (Sale), 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 3 Sylvain Marconnet (both Stade Francais), 4 Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), 5 Jerome Thion (Biarritz), 6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), 7 Sebastien Chabal (Sale), 8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), 17 Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), 18 Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), 19 Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), 21 Florian Fritz (Toulouse), 22 Damien Traille (Biarritz).