24 Jun 2009

France make wholesale changes

5:51 pm on 24 June 2009

A mounting casualty list and the prospect of a third gruelling match in as many weeks has prompted wholesale changes to the French rugby side for Saturday's one-off test against Australia in Sydney.

Five players have already been sent home after suffering injuries in the drawn two-test series in New Zealand

That's forced coach Marc Lievremont to make seven personnel changes to the starting side for the match as well as positional changes in the backline.

First-five Lionel Beauxis replaced Francois Trinh-Duc and halfback Dimitri Yachvili comes in for Julien Dupuy.

Wing Vincent Clerc has been dropped so Florian Fritz will start at centre with Damien Traille moving from second-five to fullback, Maxime Medard switching from fullback to wing and Maxime Mermoz from centre to second-five.

Julien Puricelli replaces the injured Louis Picamoles at number eight, lock Pascal Pape comes in for the injured Sebastien Chabal, Sylvain Marconnet at tighthead prop for Nicolas Mas and Dimitri Szarzewski for William Servat at hooker.