Six Nations:Scrumhalf Morgan Parra has been dropped to the bench and replaced by Dimitri Yachvili as France made six changes for Saturday's Six Nations match against England at Twickenham (kick-off 5pm).
France and England are the only sides to have won two games out of two but the defending champions' unconvincing 25-22 win against Ireland in Dublin last time out has prompted coach Marc Lievremont to act ruthlessly in the side named today.
Maxime Medard goes to fullback from the wing with Clement Poitrenaud a replacement again and Vincent Clerc coming in at number 11.
Yannick Jauzion takes Damien Traille's spot at centre while Sebastien Chabal is back at number eight with Imanol Harinordoquy shifting to flanker and Julien Bonnaire dropping to the bench.
France defence coach Dave Ellis revealed plans are already in place to stop Chris Ashton in Saturday’s clash.
Northampton wing Ashton has made a superb start to the campaign, with six tries in England’s opening two matches - two against Wales and four as Italy buckled in London.
That makes him the obvious threat to France and Ellis has confirmed stopping Ashton is a priority. Ellis is confident France have the defensive resources to stymie the supply to 23-year-old, as they did with a previous England try machine.
“Ashton can be stopped,” Ellis said. “We used to stop Jason Robinson from scoring. You’ve just got to make sure that he doesn’t get the ball when he wants it.
“It’s not just about closing one man down. If you concentrate on doing that, then it only takes away your focus from elsewhere. Ashton is a finisher, just like Jason was, or Shaun Edwards and Ellery Hanley were in rugby league before them. It’s inbred in rugby league players.”
Ashton was prised away from the 13-man game by Northampton in 2007 after he shone as a teenager for Wigan Warriors, and his scoring exploits for Northampton persuaded the England management to bring him into the international fold last year.
Ellis admires Ashton’s understanding of his team-mates’ movement, and instinctive awareness of where try-scoring chances are like to arise.
“First and foremost, you’ve got to stop giving England decent ball,” Ellis said. “Italy gave them far too much. They just let them play. They were allowed to play at their own tempo. We won’t let them do that.”
France team (v England):Maxime Medard, Yoann Huget, Aurelien Rougerie, Yannick Jauzion, Vincent Clerc, Francois Trinh-Duc, Dimitri Yachvili, Sebastien Chabal, Imanol Harinordoquy, Thierry Dusautoir (C), Lionel Nallet, Julien Pierre, Nicolas Mas, William Servat, Thomas Domingo. Replacements: Guilhem Guirado, Sylvain Marconnet, Jerome Thion, Julien Bonnaire, Morgan Parra, Damien Traille, Clement Poitrenaud
