France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has made one change to the team that beat Australia for this week’s Test against Argentina with second row Yoann Maestri returning to the starting line up.
rugbyweek
Maestri’s return, after a back injury ruled him out of selection for the 33-6 victory over the Wallabies, means Jocelino Suta, who took his place to win his first cap, is relegated to the replacements bench.
Argentina come into the match in Lille, northeast France, having played 12 Tests since June against France’s three, which Saint-Andre said would make it a tough test.
“It’s a key match for us. We know the Argentines. They’ve perhaps never been playing as well in November than this year,” the French coach told a news conference at the national rugby centre in Marcoussis, near Paris.
“We want to see whether we’re able to win two very, very high-level match in succession. It’s an enormous challenge for the staff and the players,” he added.
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape (Captain), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Yoann Huget.