France have called up six extra players, all of them of the highest international pedigree, to prepare for the Six Nations visit of Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday.
Team manager Jo Maso said today that hooker Raphael Ibanez, lock Pascal Pape, flankers Serge Betsen and Olivier Magne, centre Damien Traille and winger Aurelien Rougerie have been summoned to join the squad - though the team announcement scheduled for tomorrow is postponed until Thursday.
France slumped to a 20-16 defeat to Scotland in their opening match yesterday, after Ireland had failed to convince against Italy at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
France captain Fabien Pelous has vowed to address the problems which led to the defeat in Murrayfield.
Pelous, who won his 103rd cap in Edinburgh having recently completed a nine-match ban for elbowing Wallaby hooker Brendan Cannon, admitted that France's fluency was a problem against Scotland.
And in recalling experienced forwards Betsen, Magne and Ibanez for Ireland, Laporte has recognised the need for extra ball-carrying prowess against the likes of Lions duo Paul O'Connell and Simon Easterby.
The Toulouse lock said: "Getting the ball out wide and taking the ball forward are the things we need to work on.
"All we can do now is go forward to the next game and put right the things that were not right in this game.
"Scotland played very well against us, as they did last year, but we should have been able to cause them more problems."
Pelous recognises that France will have to improve if they are not to find themselves on the wrong end of another shock against Ireland.
The 32-year-old said: "The best thing about the tournament is that you don't always know who is going to win. Scotland kept coming back at us and got their win.
"We put out the best team out we could but Scotland's defence was excellent and we were not able to recover from their early good work.
"The tournament is the way it is with four more games to play and there are other opportunities to show what we can do.
"We will prepare for those carefully and this week we will assess the injuries and put the best 22 we can put out for the next game."
