France rely on David for clash with Springboks

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

Coach Marc Lievremont yesterday opted to name 21-year-old David, who earned his only other cap against Italy last year, at centre rather than uniting Perpignan team-mates Maxime Mermoz and David Marty, who was named among the replacements.

Lievremont said: “We made a choice between the understanding of Maxime Mermoz and David Marty, and the explosiveness and strength of Yann David.

“We chose to go with those qualities. We wanted robustness in the midfield – that’s important against South Africa.”

Meanwhile, Alex Grove will make his Scotland debut and Chris Cusiter will captain his country for the first time in Saturday’s opening autumn international against Fiji.

Worcester centre Grove, who turns 22 this month, will partner Graeme Morrision in midfield, while Cusiter has won his battle with joint skipper Mike Blair for the scrum-half berth.

Tighthead prop Moray Low, 24, will make his full debut but there is no place in the XV for record points scorer and appearance holder Chris Paterson, who is on the bench. In all, there are 10 changes in personnel from the team beaten by England in the last Test at Twickenham in March for what will be Andy Robinson’s first game as head coach.

The former England boss said: “We have selected a side that’s full of power; that has the pace but also has the skill level to break down the Fijians. Fiji are above us in the IRB rankings. They are a very dangerous team to play against.”

Indeed, Robinson appears to have gone for power both in the forwards and backs – emphasised by the selection of Rory and Sean Lamont and Simon Danielli in the back three.

Meanwhile, England have called up Gloucester prop Paul Doran-Jones as cover for David Wilson, who suffered a shoulder injury during Saturday’s 18-9 defeat to Australia.

Doran-Jones has played just 266 minutes in the Guinness Premiership following a summer move to Kingsholm from Championship club London Welsh.

But England’s propping cupboard is virtually bare following injuries to senior trio Phil Vickery, Julian White and Andrew Sheridan.

Doran-Jones, 24, can play on both sides of the scrum. With Wilson, the Bath tighthead, still undergoing medical assessments, England manager Martin Johnson has delayed the team announcement for the Argentina game until tomorrow.

Leicester winger Lucas Amorosino is a major doubt for Argentina. Amorosino damaged his calf in the Tigers’ 28-17 LV Cup defeat at Leeds on Sunday – his second game in just three days after helping Leicester beat South Africa on Friday night.

The 24-year-old, who moved to Welford Road after playing for the Pumas against England in June, is undergoing scans on the injury.

Argentina are already without key men Juan Martin Hernandez and Felipe Contepomi plus the Harlequins winger Gonzalo Camacho for Saturday’s Twickenham appointment.

Head coach Santiago Phelan said: “We have a lot of injuries to very important players in the team. It is not good for us to be without Juan Martin and Felipe but we have been working with other players. “Like always when you have injuries this is a good opportunity for other players coming up”.

Argentina centre Gonzalo Tiesi believes England’s game-plan is inhibiting his clubmate Danny Care, whose sniping runs and quick thinking set the tempo for Harlequins.

And as a former London Irish player, Tiesi admitted he is also surprised at how little impact England’s attack coach Brian Smith – the former Exiles boss – is having.