Peyrelongue replaces Frederic Michalak, who suffered a neck injury in the 35-17 win over Ireland at the weekend but is expected to be fit for the trip to Wales on March 7.

Laporte has insisted that France will not be taking the Italians lightly - despite their comprehensive 50-9 defeat against England at the weekend.

"Italy didn't play badly against England. England were good three months ago and they still are. It was the power of England that made the difference," said Laporte.

"We played well against Ireland but lost a lot of ball. We need to play the same against Italy even if they are less experienced compared to the other teams in the 6 Nations.

"This week we will work on all the things we did wrong against Ireland, mainly keeping the ball and line-out work. I was pleased with our scrum, overall I was satisfied with our performance."

France team to face Italy at Stade de France on February 21:

N Brusque (Biarritz), V Clerc, Y Jauzion (both Toulouse), D Traille (Pau), C Dominici (Stade Francais), J Peyrelongue (Biarritz), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); S Marconnet (Stade Francais), W Servat (Toulouse), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), F Pelous (Toulouse), P Pape (Bourgoin), S Betsen (Biarritz), O Magne (Montferrand), I Harinordoquy (Pau).

Replacements: Y Bru (Toulouse), J-J Crenca (Agen), D Auradou (Stade Francais), T Lievremont, D Yachvili (both Biarritz), B Liebenberg (Stade Francais), P Elhorga (Agen).