THE French team to meet Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday shows five changes in personnel and three positional alterations from the side that lost 13-12 to South Africa in the second Test in Paris last month.

As anticipated, the half-back pairing has been changed, while two players familiar to the Irish, Emile N'tamack and Thomas Castaignede, return on the right wing and at centre respectively. Alain Penaud has been recalled at outside-half and Fabien Galthie is restored to the scrum-half berth.

In the pack, Hugues Moirin is named in the second row as partner to Olivier Merle and Fabien Pelous moves from the second row to number eight. Abdel Benazzi goes from there to the blind-side flank and Philippe Benetton moves from the blind to the open side. The man omitted to accommodate those alterations is Richard Castel, who scored two tries last season in Paris when France defeated Ireland 45-10.

N'tamack, who also scored two tries in that match, returns in place of Laurent Leflamand while Stephan Glas loses out to Castaignede. Penaud, who last played against Ireland in 1994, takes over from Christophe Lamaison and Galthie displaces Guy Accoceberry.

Only seven of the team played against Ireland last season. They are full-back Jean-Luc Sadourny, N'tamack, Castaignede (who was at outside-half and kicked five conversions), loose-head prop Christian Califano, tight-head Franck Tournaire, Benazzi (then in the second row) and Pelous, who was at number eight.

Some very familiar faces will be missing including former captain Philippe Saint-Andre and Olivier Roumat, who are injured. Nor are there places for the three men now with Harlequins Laurent Beriezech, Laurent Cabannes and Thierry Lacroix. They have all apparently been ruled out after leaving the French club scene.

The French A side to meet Ireland A at Donnybrook tomorrow includes four full caps. They are wing Philippe Bernat-Salles and Leflamand, centre Olivier Campan, who played in the win over Ireland last season in the championship, and blind-side flanker Marc Lievremont. But some of the Irish players will have come up against several more of the team in the European Cup over the last two seasons.

Accoceberry had been scheduled to captain the A side but has withdrawn and the captaincy now goes to the man who replaces him at scrum-half, Jerome Cazalbou. The outside-half berth will be filled by either David Aucagne (Pau) or Benoit Bellot (Perpignan).

. Former Scotland captain Gregor Townsend is doubtful for Saturday's match against Wales at Murrayfield. The Northampton player, named in the centre, has suffered slight damage to his shoulder in a practice session.

"We pulled him out of the session immediately," said Scotland team manager Arthur Hastie, who added: "It was purely a precautionary measure. We will take medical advice on the injury and give it as long as it has to."

Scotland A out-half Duncan Hodge, who is on standby, would be drafted onto the bench if Townsend is deemed unfit and Ron Eriksson, the London Scottish centre, would wear the number 12 jersey.