Les Bleus coach Phillipe Saint-Andre pulled a major surprise on Wednesday by leaving out tour captain Thierry Dusautoir.
There was however room in the starting line up for mercurial vetern flyhalf, Frederic Michalak.
Dusautoir, the 2011 player of the year underwent surgery to his left arm after tearing his bicep during this year’s French Top 14 competition and is still regaining full power.
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Experianced prop, Nicolas Mas, has been handed the captaincy in Dusautoir’s place.
Although he finished the season with Toulouse, Saint-Andre has preferred to rest him along with a number of players who were involved in the weekend’s Top 14 final between Toulon and Castres.
Bernard Le Roux has been included at the expense of Dusautoir, who will return for the second Test, while Michalak will start at No.10 despite just flying into Brisbane on Tuesday morning.
Michalak, 31, was left out of Toulon’s star-studded 23-man side for the club decider but remained in France to watch Jonny Wilkinson and Matt Giteau lead their team to the championship.
With first-choice flyhalf Remi Tales playing for Castres, Saint-Andre was also mulling over whether to play scrumhalf Morgan Parra at No. 10 for the first time since the 2011 World Cup final.
But he was confident Michalak would overcome jet lag and three weeks without a game.
France: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Yohann Huget, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Felix Le Bourhis, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud; 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3 Nicolas Mas (Captain), 2 Guilhelm Guirado, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Antoine Burban, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Lamerat, 23 Brice Dulin.
Date: Saturday 7 June
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-Off: 12:00 SA Time (20:00 AEST, 10:00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)