Sebastien Chabal will start in France’s back row for Sunday’s Six Nations match against England at Twickenham with kick-off at 15:00. The 31-year-old Sale Sharks forward has been named as flanker for the Twickenham game having played in the second row for most of the season.
Coach Marc Lievremont has brought in Lionel Faure and Jerome Thion to boost his pack and Francois Trinh-Duc starting at fly-half in place of Benoit Baby.
Team
Forwards; Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvain Marconnet (both Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Backs; Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin);
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz).