LONDON – France Coach Philippe Saint Andre has recalled scrum-half and ever-reliable kicked Morgan Parra for quarter final clash against the All Blacks but has dropped Mathieu Bastareaud.
Parra was always going to be a part of France’s top squad to take on the knockout stages with Rory Kockott and Sebastian Tillous-Borde never a realistic chance of replacing Parra, especially with Parra’s boot playing a big part of France’s game.
Chunky centre Bastareaud falls out of the starting side with Saint Andre preferring the flexibility and more defensively mobile back Alexandre Dumoulin at 13.
The contest in the back row is shaping up to be the match defining element with Saint Andre going with Dusautoir at 6, Le Roux at 7 and the very big and very mobile Louis Picamoles at no.8.
France team to take on All Blacks
1 Eddy Ben Arous
2 Guilhem Guirado
3 Rabah Slimani
4 Pascal Pape
5 Yoann Maestri
6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain)
7 Bernard Le Roux
8 Louis Picamoles
9 Morgan Parra
10 Frederic Michalak
11 Brice Dulin
12 Wesley Fofana
13 Alexandre Dumoulin
14 Noa Nakaitaci
15 Scott Spedding
Reserves
16 Dimitri Szarzewski 17 Vincent Debaty 18 Nicolas Mas 19 Damien Chouly 20 Yannick Nyanga 21 Rory Kockott 22 Remi Tales 23 Mathieu Bastareaud
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