France boosted by returning trio

Thomas Castaignede, Thomas Lievremont and Damien Traille have recovered from injury and return to France's starting line-up for…

Thomas Castaignede, Thomas Lievremont and Damien Traille have recovered from injury and return to France's starting line-up for Saturday's Six Nations game against Italy at the Stade de France.

Castaignede comes in at fullback, replacing Christophe Dominici who returns to his usual right wing position.

Lievremont takes over from Julien Bonnaire at number eight and Traille comes in for David Marty as inside centre.

France defeated Italy 56-13 last season in Rome and won the last encounter between the two countries at the Stade de France 25-10 in 2004.

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France:  15-Thomas Castaignede; 14-Aurelien Rougerie, 13-Florian Fritz, 12-Damien Traille, 11-Christophe Dominici; 10-Frederic Michalak, 9-Jean-Baptiste Elissalde; 8-Thomas Lievremont, 7-Olivier Magne, 6-Yannick Nyanga, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Fabien Pelous (captain), 3-Pieter de Villiers, 2-Raphael Ibanez, 1-Olivier Milloud. Replacements: 16-Sebastien Bruno, 17-Sylvain Marconnet, 18-Lionel Nallet, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Dimitri Yachvili, 21-David Marty, 22-Cedric Heymans.