Vive la difference...France bring in the new boys for Murrayfield clash

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Wing Julien Malzieu and props Lionel Faure and Julien Brugnaut will also win their first caps.

Flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo and lock Loic Jacquet, who have earned one and two caps respectively, will also feature in a largely experimental side.

Thierry Dusautoir, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc and Cedric Heymans are the only players in the starting line-up who played in the World Cup semi-final defeat to England last year.

Lievremont had promised changes when he took over from Bernard Laporte in the wake of France's World Cup exit.

"We had called up six new players to our 22-strong squad and it was out of question to leave them all on the bench," Lievremont told reporters at a training camp outside Paris.

Lievremont sprang a surprise with the inclusion of young Montpellier flyhalf Trinh-Duc and asked for patience with him.

"You can't expect a 21-year-old fly-half to be perfect," he added. "He will make mistakes and we accept that."

Assistant coach Emile Ntamack was full of praise for Trinh-Duc.

"He's a good defender and his kicking has improved a lot," said Ntamack. "He has a real influence on the game."

Lievremont said France's goal had to be to defend their Six Nations title.

"We always start a competition to win it," he said.

"We're certainly not telling ourselves that finishing second or third would not be too bad. We're the champions and we want to win."

France team: Cedric Heymans, Vincent Clerc, Florian Fritz, Damien Traille, Julien Malzieu, Francois Trinh-Duc, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Elvis Vermeulen, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir, Lionel Nallet (capt), Loic Jacquet, Julien Brugnaut, William Servat, Lionel Faure.

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Arnaud Mela, Julien Bonnaire, Morgan Parra, David Skrela, Aurelien Rougerie.