RUGBY/Six Nations' Preview: Gastroenteritis struck the France team this week but that is not the only reason Les Bleus are looking a little queasy en route to Rome for tomorrow's Six Nations match with Italy.

The World Cup is eight months away but time is no longer on coach Bernard Laporte's side as he searches for the half-back pairing that he will take to Australia this autumn.

"There are only four real matches before the World Cup, the two Six Nations games and the two friendlies against England," says Laporte, who will use the summer tour of Argentina and New Zealand between times as a final test-bed for new players.

So the championship's final two matches suddenly have a new significance. Troubles with la charniere - the pivot, as the French term their half-backs - seemed unthinkable a year ago, with Gerald Merceron and Fabien Galthie driving France to a Grand Slam, but Merceron's catastrophic loss of form and confidence and Galthie's run of niggling injuries have forced Laporte to improvise match by match.

Tomorrow Dimitri Yachvili and Frederic Michalak, 22 and 21 respectively, will make up France's fourth different half-back combination in four games. Their youth and inexperience have forced Laporte to resist the urge to revamp the pack after their lacklustre performance in Dublin, and explain the return of Thomas Castaignede, who will have to provide stability as well as inspiration in the centre.

Michalak has made only one Six Nations appearance, at scrumhalf last year in the stuttering display against Italy, and has been in and out of Laporte's sides since his debut against South Africa in November 2001.

But he is highly thought of at Toulouse. "At this level a guy who can play 9 or 10 is gold dust," says his trainer Guy Noves. "For a World Cup you need players who can go all the way, Fred is young and is not fragile. In defence he can turn anyone over, in attack he can make a difference when space is tight."

Tomorrow Laporte will ask his side for a "return to a more professional approach. Our forwards failed to win enough ball in Dublin, especially in the lineout. But we didn't want to start everything again, especially with a half-back pairing which may have a fine future but lacks experience."

But he recognises that, if his forwards fail to provide enough ball for his youngsters, France may be in difficulty. Opposite this callow pair Italy field the most experienced half-backs in the championship. Both the captain, Alessandro Troncon, and Diego Dominguez claim their 75th caps tomorrow, the latter having recovered from a burst eardrum and a minor thigh injury to reclaim the outhalf slot from Rotherham's Ramiro Pez for what he claims is his final appearance in Rome.