Rugby: Philipp Saint-Andre has looked to strengthen his lineout options ahead of Six Nations clash with Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday evening (8pm).
The France coach has made four changes, all of them in the pack, from the side that beat Italy 30-12 on the opening weekend, preparing for the one area in which Ireland were dominant in their defeat to Wales.
Ireland won all of their lineouts on Sunday and forced turnovers on four Welsh setpieces, while France lost two of their eight against the Azzurri.
Sanint-Andre has therefore called on Imanol Harinordoquy to bolster his options out of touch, opting to drop Julien Bonnaire. Secondrow Lionel Nallet also makes way for the six-foot-seven-inch Toulouse lock Yoann Maestri, while hooker Dimitri Szarzewski will replace William Servat.
The final change sees the return of experienced prop Jean-Baptiste Poux in place of Vincent Debaty, who debuted against Italy.
"I wanted to bring in some freshness since maybe we worked too much last week," Saint-Andre said today. "The Irish are are very good in the lineout, so it's logical for Imanol Harinordoquy to come in. We need to be more precise with our cleanouts. Yoann Maestri was very good in that area when he came on against Italy."
Saint-Andre considered playing Harinordoquy with Bonnaire at the expense of number eight Louis Picamoles, but decided against it because of the Toulouse player's fine performance at the weekend.
"I thought about it but Picamoles's performance, defensively and offensively, was great. He made a lot of tackles and he managed to destroy the Italian rucks," Saint-Andre explained.
The backline remains unchanged with Vincent Clerc, so often the thorn in Irish sides, in situ on the right wing. The central pairing sees veteran Aurelien Rougerie paired again with newcomer Wesley Fofana. Both scored against Italy, as did Clerc and giant left wing Julien Malzieu.
"We wanted to have some consistency in the backline. As soon as we injected some pace we were dangerous (against Italy). We wanted to see exactly the same backline in action again."
The Ireland team to play in Paris will be named on Thursday afternoon. Declan Kidney has no injury concerns ahead of the game and has Keith Earls back in the squad after the Munster back sat out the Wales game for personal reasons.
France (v Ireland): Maxime Medard; Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Wesley Fofana, Julien Malzieu; Francois Trinh-Duc, Dimitri Yachvili; Jean-Baptiste Poux, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas; Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri; Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Imanol Harinordoquy, Louis Picamoles. Replacements: William Servat, Vincent Debaty, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Morgan Parra, Lionel Beauxis, Maxime Mermoz
