France head coach Marc Lievremont has taken a major gamble by selecting Benoit Baby at outhalf for Friday’s Six Nations match against Wales in Paris. Baby, a centre by trade, gets the nod over Francois Trinh-Duc, who was only called up on Monday as a replacement for the injured Lionel Beauxis.
With Baby moved to number 10, in-form Stade Francais powerhouse Mathieu Bastareaud — another late call-up — is handed a debut at centre alongside Yannick Jauzion.
And with Morgan Parra coming in for Sebastien Tillous-Borde at scrumhalf, France are going with an untried and inexperienced halfback partnership for arguably their toughest match of the championship.
Baby, however, is confident he can prove a success.
"They asked me to take on the challenge and I said 'yes'," he said today. "I took the news calmly - I'm very happy to be playing number 10. It shows the confidence the coaches have in me. And I think I've the ability to play in both positions.
"I'm confident. I know what I'm capable of and I know everyone will help me. It's not an easy position to play but it's a challenge I will take on. It's exciting.
"There will be a lot of responsibility but you get that at centre, at full-back."
Elsewhere behind the scrum, Maxime Medard reverts to fullback in place of Toulouse team-mate Clement Poitrenaud, with Julien Malzieu coming in on the wing.
In the forwards, Sylvain Marconnet is drafted into the front row and will make his 72nd appearance for France, equalling the prop record held by Christian Califano.
The Stade Francais veteran was called into the squad last week as a result of injuries suffered by Nicolas Mas and Benoit Lecouls.
In the second row, Sebastien Chabal returns in place of Romain Millo-Chluski and in all there are five personnel changes to the team which started the 22-13 win over Scotland a week and a half ago.
Les Bleus lost their first match of the tournament 30-21 to Ireland in Dublin.
France:
M Medard (Toulouse); J Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), M Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Y Jauzion, C Heymans (both Toulouse); B Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), M Parra (Bourgoin); F Barcella (Biarritz), D Szarzewski, S Marconnet (both Stade Francais), L Nallet (Castres, capt), S Chabal (Sale), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz). Replacements: B Kayser (Leicester), T Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), R Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), L Picamoles (Montpellier), S Tillous-Borde (Castres), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), C Poitrenaud (Toulouse).
