French test themselves against Welsh

France, in their one and only World Cup warm-up international, play Wales today in Cardiff with both teams at full strength.

The French have limited their build-up to just this match against a buoyant Wales and after a disastrous and injury-hit Five Nations will get some idea of what sort of shape they are now in.

Centres Richard Dourth and Stephane Glas have recovered from long-term injuries while the Lievremont brothers, Marc and Thomas, return to the back row.

The Castaignede combination lines up at half-back for the first time, with debutant Stephane at scrum-half and the great Thomas, no relation, outside him.

Wales also look at their strongest as coach Graham Henry has included 14 of the 15 players who beat South Africa in June. The only change is the return of Scott Gibbs at centre to form a powerful partnership with Mark Taylor.

Last week's 33-19 victory over Canada made it seven on the trot for Wales but they will need to find another gear to overcome France again after their 34-33 victory in Paris in March.

England coach Clive Woodward and Canada's captain Gareth Rees are unanimous there will be no easy century of points for England this time in today's Test at Twickenham.

Last weekend England strolled to a meaningless century of points against the USA, making today's final World Cup warm-up Test an even more important exercise for Woodward's England squad.

Northampton flanker Budge Pountney has been forced to pull out of Scotland's international with Romania at Hampden Park today. Pountney suffered a reaction to a calf strain in training yesterday and has caused coach Jim Telfer to make a major readjustment to his backrow. Martin Leslie switches to Pountney's openside position, with Newcastle's Peter Walton coming in at blindside.

Australia's disastrous Tri-Nations campaign has left them low on confidence going into today's deciding Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand, coach Rod Macqueen admitted yesterday.

Following successive losses to the All Blacks and South Africa, Australia has one last opportunity to salvage their season by retaining the Cup and, vitally, picking up momentum as the World Cup approaches.

"There's no doubt confidence is a very important part of the team's preparation and after two losses the confidence does wane a bit," Macqueen said.