Sport

France ring the changes for trip to Wales

FRANCE : Coach Philippe Saint-Andre has reshuffled his squad ahead of their final Six Nations clash against Wales this weekend…

Tue Mar 13 2012 - 00:00

FRANCE: Coach Philippe Saint-Andre has reshuffled his squad ahead of their final Six Nations clash against Wales this weekend.

Les Bleus head to Cardiff looking to derail Welsh hopes of landing the Grand Slam and Saint-Andre has made six changes, the most notable of which sees 19-year-old Clermont back Jean-Marcellin Buttin called up for the first time.

Julien Pierre, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Dimitri Yachvili, Alexis Palisson and Florian Fritz were all named as Saint-Andre reacted to Sunday’s 24-22 home defeat to England which ended France’s title hopes.

Julien Dupuy, Maxime Mermoz, Julien Malzieu and Lionel Nallet all make way while Vincent Clerc has a shoulder injury. There are also injury doubts over Thierry Dusautoir (knee), Imanol Harinordoquy (knee) and Julien Bonnaire (elbow).

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FRANCE SQUAD: Forwards: J Poux (Toulouse), N Mas (Perpignan), V Debaty (Clermont), D Attoub (Stade Francais), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), W Servat (Toulouse), P Pape (Stade Francais), Y Maestri (Toulouse), J Pierre (Clermont), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), J Bonnaire (Clermont), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), L Picamoles (Toulouse). Backs: M Parra (Clermont), D Yachvili (Biarritz), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), L Beauxis (Toulouse), W Fofana (Clermont), A Rougerie (Clermont), F Fritz (Toulouse), A Palisson (Toulon), J Buttin (Clermont), C Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

ENGLAND: Flanker Tom Rees was yesterday forced to concede defeat in his long battle with injury after retiring with immediate effect on medical advice. The 27-year-old Wasps backrow has failed to recover from the ruptured anterior cruciate knee ligament incurred against Agen during preseason. It was the latest setback to a highly-promising career blighted by a succession of serious shoulder and knee problems.

GLASGOW: Sean Lineen will become the Scottish Rugby Union's head of player acquisition after leaving his role as Glasgow head coach at the end of the season. The SRU yesterday confirmed weekend reports that Scotland assistant coach Gregor Townsend would replace Lineen at the end of this campaign.