French coach Saint-Andre recalls Michalak
France head coach Philippe Saint-André has dropped Francois Trinh-Duc for Saturday’s meeting with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium with the unpredictable Freddie Michalak returning to the number 10 jersey.
While the pack remains the same from the side that lost out against England in Twickenham in Round 3, Saint-André has made two further changes to his backline with centre Florian Fritz and winger Maxime Medard coming into the team in place of Mathieu Bastareaud, Benjamin Fall.
Bastareaud and Trinh-Duc are named among the replacements, while Fall misses out on the matchday squad altogether as scrum-half Maxime Machenaud fills the remaining backs’ spot on the bench.
There are also two further changes among the replacements as hooker Guilhem Guirado and lock Sebastien Vahaamahina come into the squad in place of Dimitri Szarzewski and Jocelino Suta respectively.
Pre-tournament favourites France find themselves in wooden spoon territory after losing their first three games of the 2013 championship against Italy, Wales and England
But after a strong showing against Grand Slam chasing England and with a good record n Dublin in recent years, les bleus won't be lacking in confidence against an Irish side that has faltered since a bright opening against Wales in Round 1.
France (v. Ireland): Yoann Huget; Vincent Clerc, Florian Fritz, Wesley Fofana, Maxime Medard; Frederic Michalak, Morgan Parra; Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Nicholas Mas; Christophe Samson, Yoann Maestri; Yannick Nyanga, Thierry Dusatoir, Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: Guilhem Guirado, Vincent Debaty, Luc Ducalcon, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Antonie Claassen, Maxime Machenaud, Francois Trinh-Duc, Mathieu Bastareaud.
