Paris - Coach Philippe Saint-Andre on Thursday made five changes to his starting line-up for Saturday's match with South Africa at the Stade de France.
Kick-off is at 22:00 SA time.
The French defeated Tonga 38-18 last Saturday in a bruising encounter at Le Havre, having lost to New Zealand the previous week
Back
into the walk-on team come flanker Wenceslas Lauret, lock Pascal Pape,
hooker Benjamin Kayser, centre Wesley Fofana and fullback Brice Dulin.
There is also a start for lock Yoann Maestri, despite him having been sent off for fighting against Tonga.
Maestri
was facing a lengthy suspension for his actions but a disciplinary
committee took a lenient view and he was spared any match bans.
The
team is almost identical to the one that lost 26-19 to the All Blacks
in the first of the November tests with the exception of Sofiane
Guitoune, who replaces Maxime Medard.
"This is a team which shows a lot of continuity from the first two games," said Saint-Andre of his selection.
"We
are getting ourselves ready for a huge challenge taking on the second
best team in the world. They put a lot of intensity into their games and
are very physical. It will be a top-class match."
In keeping
with what he told his squad ahead of the match against the All Blacks,
Saint-Andre said that they had to play their own game with speed and
intensity.
"They are a powerful team," he said of the Springboks.
"They
have put six forwards on the bench, so we know what to expect. It is up
to us to get our tactics and strategy right, both physically and
mentally to produce a top match.
"Defensively we need to be very
good and very good with our tackling. They are good technically, but
above all they depend pn their power and their pack.
"They have just beaten the champions of Europe in Wales by three tries to nil and Scotland under the rain by four tries to nil.
"Yoann
Huget, Florian Fritz and Wenceslas Lauret were rested (last week) and
we expect them to bring in mental and physical freshness."
Teams:
France:
15 Brice Dulin, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Substitutes:
16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19
Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22
Frederic Michalak, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux: 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain) 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Siya Kolisi 22 Jano Vermaak, 23 Patrick Lambie
