Lievremont makes two changes for Italy

Marc Lievremont © Reuters

France coach Marc Lievremont made two changes on Wednesday to his starting line-up for the Six Nations match with Italy this Sunday at the Stade de France from the one that beat Wales 26-20 last time.

The 39 year old - who is two victories away from landing France's first Grand Slam since 2004 - brought in wing Marc Andreu and centre David Marty for Julien Malzieu and Mathieu Bastareaud respectively, who drop to the replacements bench.

Veteran scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili fails to get a start but is the sole change of personnel on the bench as he replaces injured Toulouse star Frederic Michalak.

Castres wing Andreu, 24, will start for the first time in his career, having won his first test cap three minutes from the end of the win over Wales.

"We wanted to see more of Marc Andreu than just the three minutes he played at Cardiff," said Lievremont, whose win against Wales was the first time that under his regime began after the 2007 World Cup that the French had won three matches in a row.

"He is having an excellent season at Castres, and it is the ideal occasion to throw him onto the big stage."

Marty, 27, gets his first start of the tournament after the 28-times capped Perpignan star came on three times as a replacement - Bastareaud may also be earning a rest after an injury scare earlier in the week.

Lievremont - who was criticised in several quarters for his usage of over 70 players since he took over from Bernard Laporte - retained the same pack that started against the Welsh, preferring Julien Pierre again to Sebastien Chabal in the second row.

"There will be changes in the scrum for the second half," said Lievremont, himself a distinguished former international backrow forward, who was part of the team that lost to Australia in the 1999 World Cup final.

"But we have retained the same group up front because we know that Italy will pose us serious problems in the area of winning the ball in the scrum."

France - who opened with an 18-9 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh before ending Irish dreams of a repeat Grand Slam with an impressive 33-10 triumph in Paris - round off their campaign against old foes England at the Stade de France on March 20.

Team (15-1):

Clement Poitrenaud; Marc Andreu, David Marty, Yannick Jauzion, Alexis Palisson; Francois Trinh-Duc, Morgan Parra; Imanol Harinordoquy, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir (capt); Julien Pierre, Lionel Nallet; Nicolas Mas, William Servat, Thomas Domingo

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Sebastien Chabal, Alexandre Lapandry, Dimitri Yachvili, Mathieu Bastareaud, Julien Malzieu

Read more on the Six Nations page.

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© Sapa - AFP