French forced into major revamp

It's a measure of the disruption which a plethora of injuries have caused to French plans for this Sunday's meeting with Ireland at Stade de France that Emile Ntamack is the only survivor from Bernard Laporte's first-choice back line as unveiled in the Six Nations opener away to Wales.

And Ntamack will be playing out of position, as the Toulouse winger (converted into an unhappy centre at times in the past year) now switches to full back after the mercurial Thomas Castaignede became the latest player to be struck down.

Castaignede has been ruled out with a strained thigh muscle and thus joins Christophe Dominici, Thomas Lombard, Sebastien Chabel and Olivier Magne - who has been suspended - on the sidelines.

As in the victory over Scotland, Laporte was already obliged to plan without World Cup hero Christophe Lamaison, Fabien Galthie and Richard Dourthe, all of whom are injured.

With Ntamack moving to full back, Montferrand winger David Bory makes his international debut, while Philippe Bernat-Salles (a bit of a thorn in Irish sides in the past) returns to the wing, his first match since the World Cup final defeat by Australia last November.

Laporte opts for Stephan Glas and Cedric Desbrosse as his midfield combination while Christophe Laussucq and Gerald Merceron are retained at half-back, the latter ahead of Alain Penaud (who is on the bench) as the Montferrand outhalf is Laporte's only recognised goal-kicker.

Even after announcing his team yesterday, Laporte was obliged to amend it later in the day after huge lock Hugues Miorin, who the coach had hailed as his ideal second-row forward, became the fifth French player to withdraw from Sunday's fixture with injury.

Miorin, a member of the French team that collected the 1997 Grand Slam, pulled a right thigh muscle and is replaced by Thomas Lievremont, who goes to number eight while captain Fabien Pelous moves to the second row - the uncapped Toulouse lock Franck Belot has been called up to the replacement's bench.

Switching Pelous to the second row and bringing in the more mobile Lievremont was likely to happen at some juncture anyway, as it did in Murrayfield last Saturday week.

Laporte took a sanguine view about the many disruptions to his plans. "We don't complain because there is no point in complaining. We just get on with it."

Back in the Ireland camp, Kieron Dawson's fitness and selection prospects will probably be decided upon today, although the prospects remained good as the Irish set off for their splendiferous Versailles base yesterday.

However, there has been a late change to the make-up of the Irish A side, which is seeking a fourth win out of four over their French counterparts in Clermont-Ferrand tomorrow. Dion O'Cuinneagain aggravated a groin injury in training yesterday and his place on the team is taken by Tony McWhirter.

DLSP and Leinster back row Declan O'Brien receives deserved recognition with his call-up to the A bench - but what has poor Victor Costello done to deserve demotion in the past year from regular first-choice Irish number eight to 10th or worse in the back-row pecking order? He hasn't declared for Wales, has he?

France: E Ntamack (Toulouse); P Bernat-Salles (Biarritz), C Desbrosse (Toulouse), S Glas (Bourgoin), D Bory (Montferrand); G Merceron (Montferrand), C Laussucq (Stade Francais); T Lievremont (Perpignan), A Benazzi (Agen), A Costes (Montferrand); O Brouzet (Begles-Bordeaux), F Pelous (Toulouse, capt); F Tournaire (Toulouse), M Dal Maso (Colomiers), C Califano (Toulouse).

Replacements: R Ibanez (Perpignan), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), F Belot (Toulouse), L Mallier (Brive), A Hueber (Toulon), A Penaud (Toulouse), D Venditti (Brive).

A Munster XV will play a Leicester XV at Welford Road, Leicester, on Friday April 7th at 7.45 p.m. The friendly is part of Munster's preparations for their European Cup quarter-final on April 15th.