Laporte goes with new-look line-up

France head coach Bernard Laporte insisted form and injuries had dictated his decision to select an experimental line-up for Saturday's RBS Six Nations Championship opener against Italy in Rome.

Les Bleus have gone with a new-look halfback pairing of Pierre Mignoni and David Skrela for the match, while at the same time handing recalls to Sale's powerhouse number eight Sebastien Chabal and Toulouse fullback Clement Poitrenaud.

Laporte has lost a host of key players to injury in the run-up to the tournament, with captain Fabien Pelous, Elvis Vermeulen and Damien Traille among those sidelined. But he is happy to hand starts to those players who have performed well for their clubs in recent months.

And with his squad for this year's World Cup, which is held in France this autumn, still far from finalised, Laporte is interested to see which of his men take their chance. "First of all, because of injuries, we have had to make changes," he said. "And the performances of some have seen players come into the 40 and get themselves into the 22. It is as simple as that.

"Our aim is really to polish the (World Cup) squad that we will announce in June. We therefore want to see as many players as possible. And it's not like we are giving chances to players who have not been performing for their clubs. We are giving opportunities to those who have been performing well every week."

Clermont-Auvergne's Mignoni gets the nod over regular scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili because in Skrela, he will have a specialist kicker alongside him. The Stade Francais outhalf returns to the France team almost six years after his last appearance for his country, a defeat to New Zealand in June 2001.

Lionel Beauxis, Skrela's team-mate at Stade, has been drafted into the squad and will be on the bench. Skrela has benefited from the injuries suffered by his competition at outhalf - namely regular starter Frederic Michalak and back-ups Traille and Benjamin Boyet - and Laporte feels both he and Mignoni deserve their chance.

"Having given four games to Damien Traille, we know he can play there at international level. Now we must see how David Skrela and Lionel Beauxis play," he continued.

"The selection of a kicker like David Skrela allows us to call up Pierre Mignoni. He makes breaks all the time with Clermont. He accelerates the pace of a game, and he passes quickly and precisely. We hope he plays the some game as he does for his club."

Chabal, meanwhile, will play his first game for France since November 2005 after being selected on the back of some superb recent showings for the Sharks.

"Sebastien has had some poor performances for France, that is why he hasn't played," Laporte said. "But for three months, he has put in some good displays for Sale, which means he returns. We have full confidence in him, and he should be effective for 80 minutes."

Wasps' Raphael Ibanez is preferred to fellow hooker Dimitri Szarzewski and will captain the side in the absence of long-time skipper Fabien Pelous, who is out with an ankle injury.

Bourgoin's Julien Bonnaire is named in the starting XV despite concerns about an ankle injury he sustained on club duty on Saturday.

The Italy coach, Pierre Berbizier, has called up Gran Parma's Roberto Mandelli to replace the injured Alessandro Zanni. The Calvisano flanker sustained an injury at the weekend and has been ruled out for the meeting at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.

Mandelli will join the team for training today as the Azzurri continue their preparation for this weekend's clash.