French alterations kept to a minimum

For all Bernard Laporte's pre-championship talk of experimentation with the World Cup in mind, when it came to the crunch only one enforced change has been made to the French team which will play Ireland this Saturday. As statements of intent go, it's fairly clear-cut, and was backed up in word from their southern Parisian base in Marcoussis yesterday.

Predictably, France have named the 22-year-old Biarritz scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili for his third cap in place of the sidelined captain/field marshal/quasi assistant coach Fabien Galthie.

"To be fair, they will miss Galthie, he is their little general around the pitch," admitted Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll. "He is a very good player and what team wouldn't miss the World Player of the Year from last year?"

Curiously, this is an unlucky fixture for Galthie, who scored a try in Dublin in '97, but also sustained a knee injury which sidelined him for the rest of the season, was out of favour in '99, and missed the game two years ago due to a one-match suspension for incurring two yellow cards in domestic club games.

But the gnarled and grizzled heavyweight pack remains intact, with the captaincy, perhaps fittingly, reverting from the backs to the engine room in the considerable shape of Fabien Pelous as the French gird themselves for a thunderous collision up front.

With only one change to the 22 for the win against Scotland, it is also expected that Thomas Castaignede and Cristian Califano will be unfurled as impact replacements at some juncture in the third quarter.

Speaking from their base in Marcoussis, where France's new, state-of-the-art national rugby centre was opened last October, the team manager Jo Maso said of the largely unchanged line-up: "It's logical, the squad will evolve only from within and the game against Ireland is about fighting to stay alive for the rest of the Six Nations. We go there to win."

Considerable attention will be focused on the performances of Yachvili and Francois Gelez, 22 and 24 respectively with just eight caps to their name. Yachvili is the eighth scrumhalf and Gelez the eighth outhalf in Laporte's three years as coach.

Yachvili said of his selection that "events decided for me", in reference to Galthie's absence." Yet Maso intimated that this could be the beginning of a long partnership between the two left-footers, which might also be extended beyond Saturday regardless of Galthie's physical well-being.

"This experience with the young guns is something we could go on with after the game in Ireland, even if Galthie is fit again for the game against Italy, which is possible."

Laporte also echoed Maso's sentiments, stating, "all will depend on what will happen in Ireland".

FRANCE: 15 C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); 14 A Rougerie (Montferrand), 13 X Garbajosa (Toulouse), 12 D Traille (Pau), 11 V Clerc (Stade Toulousain); 10 F Gelez (Agen), 9 D Yachvili (Biarritz); 1 J-J Crenca (Agen), 2 R Ibanez (Castres), 3 S Marconnet (Stade Français), 4 F Pelous (Toulouse, capt), 5 O Brouzet (Montferrand), 6 S Betsen (Biarritz), 7 O Magne (Montferrand), 8 I Harinordoquy (Pau). Replacements: 16 J-B Rue (Agen), 17 C Califano (Saracens/Eng), 18 D Auradou (Stade Français), 19 S Chabal (Bourgoin), 20 M Barrau (Agen), 21 G Merceron (Montferrand), 22 T Castaignede (Saracens).