Tillous-Borde and Chabal to start for France
Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Sebastien Chabal have been drafted into France’s starting XV for Saturday’s Test against Australia in Paris.
Tillous-Borde comes in at scrum-half for the injured Jean-Baptiste Elissalde while Chabal replaces Romain Millo-Chluski at lock.
They are the only two changes to the side that started the 42-17 victory over the Pacific Islanders on Saturday.
Fulgence Ouedraogo is retained in the back row, meaning Montpellier team-mate Louis Picamoles is again on the bench, while Lionel Faure beat off competition from fellow prop Fabien Barcella to keep his place in the front row.
David Skrela has shrugged off a minor knock to take the number 10 jersey for the third game in succession.
Tillous-Borde scored a try against the Islanders after coming on as an 18th-minute replacement for Elissalde, who was knocked out following a dreadful tackle by Napolioni Nalaga that earned the Fiji winger a red card.
Elissalde is still feeling the effects of Nalaga’s tackle and will be out of action for two weeks, giving Tillous-Borde the chance to impress.
The 23-year-old knows the Wallabies well as his previous two caps prior to his appearance on Saturday came against them in the summer tour Down Under.
Julien Tomas will be Tillous-Borde’s understudy after coming into the squad on Sunday as Elissalde’s replacement.
Chabal has been used as an impact substitute in France’s first two November Tests, the 12-6 win over Argentina and last week’s match against the Islanders.
A number eight by trade, he has been used as a lock by France since last year’s World Cup and played there for Les Bleus against Australia in the summer.
France team: Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Cedric Heymans; David Skrela (both Toulouse), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Benoit Lecouls (Toulouse), Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Julien Tomas (Bourgoin), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Alexis Palisson (Brive).
