France unchanged for Italy clash

France coach Marc Lievremont has kept faith with the squad which lost to England at Saturday for Les Bleus’ next RBS 6 Nations game in Italy on March 12.

Full-back Maxime Medard returns after missing the Twickenham trip with a hamstring problem, so there is no place for Alexis Palisson, while fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc has also been included for the Stadio Flaminio encounter on Saturday week despite suffering a knee injury at the weekend.

Reigning champions France will look to return to winning ways against Nick Mallett’s Azzurri in 11 days’ time before concluding their Six Nations campaign at home to Wales the following weekend.

France squad:

Forwards: N Mas (Perpignan), T Domingo (Clermont), L Ducalcon (Castres), S Marconnet (Biarritz), W Servat (Stade Toulousain), G Guirado (Perpignan), L Nallet (Racing-Metro), J Pierre (Clermont), J Thion (Biarritz), T Dusautoir (Stade Toulousain, capt), J Bonnaire (Clermont), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), S Chabal (Racing-Metro).

Backs: M Parra (Clermont), D Yachvili (Biarritz), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Y Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), A Rougerie (Clermont), V Clerc (Stade Toulousain), Y Huget (Bayonne), M Medard (Stade Toulousain), D Traille (Biarritz), C Poitrenaud (Stade Toulousain).