France call on Haymans, drop Dominici

France have made three changes to the team that lost to England last weekend for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship clash with Scotland in Paris.

Experienced winger Christophe Dominici is dropped in favour of Cedric Heymans, while Pierre Mignoni returns at scrum-half in place of Dimitri Yachvili, who is not in the squad after struggling against England.

There is only one change in a pack that was outplayed at Twickenham last Sunday, Biarritz’s Imanol Harinordoquy coming in at number eight in place of Sebastien Chabal.

David Skrela will be fly-half if he passes a fitness test on Thursday.

If he fails, his Stade Francais team-mate Lionel Beauxis will come in to make his first start of the Six Nations. Damien Traille will then be named on the bench, as cover for the fly-half and centre positions.

Number eight Elvis Vermeulen, named in the squad in place of Sale’s Chabal, has to be content with a place on the bench.

Les Bleus are level on six points with Ireland and England going into the final round of Six Nations fixtures.

With the English – who have an inferior points difference – playing away at Wales on Saturday, it appears to be a straight shootout between France and Ireland, with points difference set to be crucial.

Ireland take on Italy in Rome in Saturday’s opening match.

France team to play Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations Championship on Saturday:

C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); V Clerc (Toulouse), D Marty (Perpignan), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), C Heymans (Toulouse); D Skrela (Stade Francais), P Mignoni (Clermont-Auvergne); O Milloud (Bourgoin), R Ibanez (Wasps, capt), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), L Nallet (Castres), J Thion (Biarritz), S Betsen (Biarritz), J Bonnaire (Bourgoin), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz).

Replacements: N Mas (Perpignan), S Bruno (Sale), P Pape (Castres), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse), L Beauxis (Stade Francais)/D Traille (Biarritz), C Dominici (Stade Francais).