France ring the changes

France have made five changes to their team for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship clash with Ireland at Croke Park.

Prop Sylvain Marconnet, lock Pascal Pape and flanker Imanol Harinordoquy are drafted into the pack in place of Olivier Milloud, Jerome Thion and Julien Bonnaire respectively.

And in the backs, centre David Marty comes in for the injured Florian Fritz, while Vincent Clerc replaces Toulouse team-mate Cedric Heymans on the wing.

Half-backs Pierre Mignoni and David Skrela, who excelled in Les Bleus’ 39-3 win against Italy in Rome on Saturday, keep their places in the team.

France team to play Ireland at Croke Park, Dublin, on Sunday (1500):

Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais); David Skrela (Stade Francais), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont-Auvergne); Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Raphael Ibanez (Wasps, capt), Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet, Pascal Pape (both Castres), Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy (both Biarritz), Sebastien Chabal (Sale).

Replacements: Sebastien Bruno (Sale), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).