PARIS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - France coach Fabien Galthie on Friday made changes to his second row for Sunday's Six Nations match against Italy in Lille, with Emmanuel Meafou and Thibaud Flament coming into the starting XV.
Meafou steps up from the bench, where he had featured in France's two previous victories in the tournament, while Flament only played the second match against Wales. He was ruled out of the opening 36-14 win over Ireland due to personal reasons.
They replace Mickael Guillard and Charles Ollivon, both relegated to the bench.
"We have tried to open up the French team to competition, and it is also a matter of managing freshness during the tournament," Galthie told a press conference.
"For the moment, we have managed to coach early enough in the first two matches, and now we have the opportunity to change things up a little without changing the organisation or strategy.
"These are fresh players who have had little playing time but who have experience with us. We are making a slight change in the front five. We think this is an interesting move."
Galthie made three slight changes among the replacements with hooker Peato Mauvaka, tighthead prop George-Henri Colombe and centre Pierre-Louis Barassi included in the squad in place of Maxime Lamothe, Regis Montagne and Noah Nene, respectively.
Les Bleus, who are the only side in the running to win the Grand Slam, will aim to secure a third consecutive victory after their wins over Ireland and Wales (54-12).
France team:
15-Thomas Ramos, 14-Theo Attissogbe, 13-Emilien Gailleton, 12-Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11-Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10-Matthieu Jalibert, 9-Antoine Dupont (captain), 8-Anthony Jelonch, 7-Oscar Jegou, 6-Francois Cros, 5-Emmanuel Meafou, 4-Thibaud Flament, 3-Dorian Aldegheri, 2-Julien Marchand, 1-Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16-Peato Mauvaka, 17-Rodrigue Neti, 18-Georges-Henri Colombe, 19-Charles Ollivon, 20-Mickael Guillard, 21-Lenni Nouchi, 22-Baptiste Serin, 23-Pierre-Louis Barassi.
(Reporting by Vincent DaheronEditing by Christian Radnedge)
