Sebastien Chabal was one of six players dropped from the France squad tonight as coach Marc Lievremont held true to his promise of making changes following yesterday’s defeat to Italy.

Wales international James Hook has confirmed he will join French club Perpignan next season.

Perpignan 24 Leicester 19

David Marty and Maxime Medard scored tries as France eased to a 34-12 win over Fiji in rain-swept Nantes this evening.

South Africa 42 France 17

France coach Marc Lievremont has made just one change to his side to face England on Saturday with Mathieu Bastareaud returning at centre in place of David Marty.

FRANCE defence coach Dave Ellis was delighted with his side’s six-try show against Italy as Les Bleus remained on course for the Grand Slam.

France 46 Italy 20

FRANCE winger Marc Andreu will start for the first time in the Six Nations game against Italy on Sunday after coach Marc Lievremont made two changes to his team for the game at Stade de France.

Mathieu Bastareaud will be on the bench when France continue their bid for an RBS 6 Nations grand slam against Italy on Sunday.

CONTROVERSIAL centre Mathieu Bastareaud has been given his chance in the starting line-up for France’s RBS 6 Nations opener against Scotland on Sunday.

WITH SO much negativity surrounding rugby at the moment, with the plethora of law changes that favour the team without the ball (and the kickfest that has ensued), how refreshing to see so much positive rugby produced by a whole host of teams in last weekend’s Heineken Cup.

Munster 24 Perpignan 23

GOOD enough for the Springboks when they beat the Lions and ran away with the Tri-Nations… now not good enough for Munster.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has made the shock decision to jettison Jean de Villiers for the Heineken Cup tie at home to Perpignan on Friday evening.

IT was not the type of preparation any of the Irish sides would have wished for last weekend before resuming their respective European journeys, with all four provinces losing in the Magners League.

FRANCE centre David Marty has hailed his former Perpignan team-mate Dan Carter as a “flawless” player ahead of Les Bleus’ clash with Carter’s New Zealand in Marseille on Saturday.

France coach Marc Lievremont today made four changes to his squad for Saturday’s Test against New Zealand in Marseille.

YANN DAVID will earn just his second cap for France in Friday’s Test against world champions South Africa.

Yann David will earn just his second cap for France in Friday’s Test against world champions South Africa.

Perpignan 29 Northampton Saints 13

Ospreys 15 Perpignan 9

France scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde predicts tomorrow’s showdown with Ireland will provide his team with a tougher test than last weekend’s RBS 6 Nations Championship opener against Scotland.

AURELIEN ROUGERIE insists France will pay a heavy penalty if they underestimate Ireland in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash in Paris.

MARC LIEVREMONT insists France are by no means the finished article after making six changes to the line-up that dismantled Scotland for Saturday’s clash with Ireland.

Marc Lievremont insists France are by no means the finished article after making six changes to the line-up that dismantled Scotland for Saturday's clash with Ireland.

Chris Paterson took his place on the bench for Scotland’s opening game of this year’s RBS 6 Nations Championship against France at Murrayfield.

LIONEL FAURE admits his call-up to the France squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship allowed him to dodge the potentially painful dilemma of switching his allegiance to England.

David Marty has been called up by France as a replacement for injured centre Florian Fritz ahead of Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship match against Scotland.

MARC LIEVREMONT didn’t take long to usher in a new dawn in French rugby yesterday by naming six uncapped players in a much-changed squad for the Six Nations Championship opener against Scotland.

New France coach Marc Lievremont has made sweeping changes in his first squad selection ahead of the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 3.

Newport Gwent Dragons 0 Perpignan 25

FRANCE captain Raphael Ibanez insists the stakes remain high going into his side’s World Cup bronze-medal match against Argentina today.

New Zealand 18 France 20

France have retained Lionel Beauxis at fly-half for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in Cardiff.

France 64 Georgia 7

France 64 Georgia 7

FRANCE have made nine changes to their starting line-up to take on Georgia in their final World Cup Group D match at Marseille on Sunday.

THE two surprises in the French team for tonight’s game see David Marty preferred to Yannick Jauzion in the centre and Sebastian Chabal’s selection in the second-row.

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN’S neck — not to mention his job — is not necessarily on the line at the Stade de France tonight. But his stature as Ireland’s most successful coach will take a battering if his team fails to hugely improve on recent performances, all the more so should the gamble of pairing the untried Eoin Reddan with an out of sorts Ronan O’Gara at half-back prove a failure.

FRANCE coach Bernard Laporte named his side yesterday to face Ireland in tomorrow’s crunch Rugby World Cup clash in the Stade de France, and there were a number of surprises.

WORLD Cup hosts France took out nine days of pent-up frustration on Namibia with a resounding victory that will have drawn nervous glances from Ireland last night.

France 87 Namibia 10

FRENCH rugby coach Bernard Laporte has dropped 12 players from the side which lost to Argentina in the World Cup opener for his side’s next game against Namibia.