France to take risk on rookies

Morgan Parra, Bourgoin's 19-year-old scrum-half, will start a Test for the first time and part-Vietnamese fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc will start for the second, as a comparative veteran at 21.

'We're not worried,' said coach Marc Lievremont. 'These players already have a little more experience than they had at the beginning of the tournament. We're counting on their enthusiasm.'

It wasn't as if Lievremont lacked a safe alternative. He could have kept David Skrela at stand off and recalled Dimitri Yachvili to work his customary magic against England from the base of the scrum, all the more so as a specialist goalkicking replacement for the injured Jean-Baptiste Elissalde. Instead, Lievremont has decided to leave both on the bench and gamble on the biggest pair of novices to appear for France in the fixture since January 1978 when a pair of 22-year-olds, Bernard Vivies and Jerome Gallion, came up trumps in a home win against Bill Beaumont's England.

Parra, a substitute against Scotland and Ireland, is the second French teenager to make a full Test debut at No.9 — emulating Frederic Michalak, then also 19, against Australia seven years ago.

Trinh-Duc insists he will not be fazed by facing Jonny Wilkinson. 'True, Wilkinson is one of the best fly-halves in the world; technically, he can do everything,' he said. 'I have a lot of respect for him but I'm not going to watch him play. I'm going to concentrate on our team and my own game. I shall do my best to leave the pitch without a single regret.' Lievremont's other changes are in the pack.

Louis Picamoles, 22, Trinh- Duc's team-mate from Montpellier, starts against England where he finished against Ireland, at No.8, while Romain Millo-Chlusky, Fabien Pelous's junior second row partner at Toulouse, had no sooner been picked than he was ruled out with an Achilles tendon injury. Pascal Pape is promoted from the bench.

The line-up is barely recognisable from the 22 on duty against England at the World Cup four months ago. Only eight survive — Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans, David Marty, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir, Dimitri Szarzewski, Jean-Baptiste Poux and Damien Traille, cast in a new role of goalkicker.

FRANCE: C Heymans (Toulouse); A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), D Marty (Perpignan), D Traillie (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Bourgoin); L Faure (Sale), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan); L Nallet (Castres, capt), P Pape (Stade Francais); J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), L Picamoles (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse). Subs: W Servat (Toulouse), J-B Poux (Toulouse), J Thion (Biarritz), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), D Yachvili (Biarritz), D Skrela (Stade Francais), A Floch (Clermon Auvergne).