France have kept faith with Sébastien Chabal for Saturday’s RBS Six Nations match against Italy in Rome.
Marc Lievremont, the head coach, had been expected to drop the Racing Métro forward after an unconvincing display in the 17-9 defeat by England a fortnight ago. However, after reviewing a tape of the game, Lievremont has opted to retain the former Sale man at No 8 in favour of Imanol Harinordoquy.
“I watched the [England] game again,” Lièvremont said. “His [Chabal’s] performance, as well as Clément Poitrenaud’s and Yoann Huget’s, did not seem disastrous to me.”
In total, Lievrmont has made three changes from the side that lost at Twickenham. Harinordoquy is replaced by the returning Julien Bonnaire at blindside flanker, while the ever dangerous Maxime Medard returns at full back in place of Clement Poitrenaud, his Toulouse team-mate. The final change sees Sylvain Marconnet preferred to Thomas Domingo at loose-head prop.
France’s embarrassment of riches at half-back sees Morgan Parra remain on the bench as Dimitri Yachvili continues at scrum half. “Dimitri was a substitute in the last two November tests and in the first two Six Nations games. He started against England and even though he made a few mistakes, like others, I still trust him,” Lievremont added.
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“To me, they (Parra and Yachvili) lie equal and Morgan will certainly come off the bench during the game.”
France, who completed a grand slam to win last year’s championship, are currently third in the Six Nations standings, level on points with second-placed Wales and fourth-placed Ireland.
Unbeaten England top the table while Italy are bottom following three defeats from as many games.
France:15-Maxime Medard, 14-Yoann Huget, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Vincent Clerc, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Dimitri Yachvili, 8-Sebastien Chabal, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Lionel Nallet, 4-Julien Pierre, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-William Servat, 1-Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16-Guilhem Guirado, 17-Luc Ducalcon, 18-Jerome Thion, 19-Imanol Harinordoquy, 20-Morgan Parra, 21-Damien Traille, 22-Clement Poitrenaud.