France will be without centre Florian Fritz for the Six Nations matches with Scotland and Wales.
The Toulouse star has been suspended for three weeks after being found guilty of making contact with the eye area of Irish flanker Stephen Ferris during France’s 30-21 defeat at Croke Park last Saturday.
Fritz’s enforced absence sees Benoit Baby come into the team to face Scotland on Saturday, with the Clermont Auvergne man now the favourite to wear the No13 shirt against Grand Slam winners Wales on February 27.
Baby’s promotion to the starting line up sees Maxime Mermoz named among the replacement, while Julien Malzieu drops out of the side to make way for Cedric Heymans.
Sale’s Sebastien Chabal loses his starting spot to Romain Millo-Chluski after taking a knock to his back in Dublin, with Nicolas Mas and Fabien Barcella both earning call ups in the French front row.
No8 Imanol Harinordoquy is fit to start against Frank Hadden’s men despite picking up a knock to his knee in a try-scoring performance last weekend.
France
Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Maxime Medard (Toulouse), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse); Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Castres), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpelier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
Replacements: Renaud Boyoud (Dax), Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne)
