PARIS, March 12 (Reuters) - France coach Fabien Galthie has handed a first cap to Temo Matiu and shifted Charles Ollivon to number eight as he reshuffled his side for Saturday’s Six Nations decider against England.
They top the standings level on 16 points with second-placed Scotland, who beat Les Bleus 50-40 last weekend, but the French have a significant points difference advantage of 58.
That means Scotland realistically need to better France’s points haul against England to lift their first Six Nations title in 27 years. If France get a bonus-point win over the English, that will likely rule Scotland out of the running.
Galthie confirmed on Thursday that Anthony Jelonch, following a concussion last weekend, will miss the Stade de France showdown, while Oscar Jegou is suspended, forcing changes for their final match of the tournament.
Francois Cros starts on the flank alongside Matiu, with Ollivon moving to the base of the scrum.
Ollivon’s switch allows the return of the lock pairing of Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou, who started together in France’s 33-8 win over Italy earlier in the competition.
In midfield, Pierre-Louis Barassi replaces the injured Nicolas Depoortere (shoulder) and will partner Yoram Moefana at centre as France look to finish the campaign on a high against their old rivals.
France team:
15-Thomas Ramos, 14-Theo Attissogbe, 13-Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12-Yoram Moefana, 11-Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10-Matthieu Jalibert, 9-Antoine Dupont (captain), 8-Charles Ollivon, 7-Temo Matiu, 6-François 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-Demba Bamba, 19-Hugo Auradou, 20-Mickael Guillard, 21-Joshua Brennan, 22-Baptiste Serin, 23-Emilien Gailleton
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
