France have been forced into a major revamp of their forward pack as they bid to secure the Six Nations title against England in Paris.
Fabien Galthie’s side saw their grand slam dreams dashed by Scotland in round four as they suffered a 50-40 defeat at Murrayfield, but know that a bonus-point victory in the tournament’s final fixture will be enough to defend their crown.
They will have to do so without two key cogs, though, in the back five of their pack, with Oscar Jegou suspended after being found to have eye gouged Ewan Ashman, and Anthony Jelonch absent after suffering a hamstring strain.
Galthie hands a debut to athletic Bordeaux Begles back rower Temo Matiu, while Charles Ollivon moves from lock to No 8 as Toulouse teammates Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou are partnered in the second row.
In the backline, Pierre-Louis Barassi replaces the injured Nicolas Depoortere at outside centre alongside Yoram Moefana.
France were beaten by England at Twickenham during last year’s tournament but have not won the last four meetings between the pair on French soil.
With Ireland and Scotland, both in the title mix, meeting in the first fixture of “Super Saturday”, Galthie’s squad will know what they need to do to win the title by the time they kick off in Paris.
France XV to face England in Paris (Saturday 14 March, 8.10pm GMT): 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Dorian Aldegheri; 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Emmanuel Meafou; 6 Francois Cros, 7 Temo Matiu, 8 Charles Ollivon; 9 Antoine Dupont (capt.), 10 Matthieu Jalibert; 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 14 Theo Attissogbe; 15 Thomas Ramos.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Joshua Brennan; 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Emilien Gailleton.
