France make two changes for Ireland clash

France coach Marc Lievremont has made just two enforced changes to the team that beat Scotland for Les Bleus RBS 6 Nations clash against Ireland.

Vincent Clerc and Alexis Palisson come in for wings Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall, who were yesterday both forced to withdraw from the match with injuries.

Brive's Palisson has been preferred to Clermont wing Julien Malzieu while Jean-Baptiste Poux, who was also called up yesterday to replace Luc Ducalcon, starts from the bench with Sylvain Marconnet moving to the stands.

"You don't change a winning team," said Lievremont. "Playing Vincent Clerc from the start shouldn't cause a debate, there was a lot of discussion on who to play on the left wing.

"We decided to go with the versatility and left foot of Alexis Palisson.

"We know the qualities of Julien Malzieu but it seemed interesting to us to have the presence of Alexis alongside Clement Poitrenaud."

Controversial centre Mathieu Bastareaud has kept his place in the starting line-up after he made an impressive comeback against Scotland, inspiring Les Bleus to and 18-9 triumph at Murrayfield.

Making his first Test start since disgracing himself by falsely claiming he had been assaulted during his country's tour of New Zealand last summer, the 21-year-old responded with his first two international tries.

The France team to play Ireland in the RBS 6 Nations at the Stade de France on Saturday, February 13:

C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); V Clerc (Toulouse), M Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), A Palisson (Brive); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont); T Domingo (Clermont), W Servat (Toulouse), N Mas (Perpignan), L Nallet (Racing Metro), P Pape (Stade Francais), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz).

Replacements: D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), S Marconnet (Stade Francais), J Pierre (Clermont), J Bonnaire (Clermont), D Marty (Perpignan), F Michalack (Toulouse), J Malzieu (Clermont).