Bastareaud's France return confirmed
Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:01
Back in the lineup and ready to rumble: Mathieu Bastareaud
France coach Marc Lievremont brought Mathieu Bastareaud back from the international wilderness on Wednesday, naming the disgraced Stade Francais star in the team to face Scotland in their Six Nations opener Sunday.
Bastareaud, who has not played for France since he falsely claimed to have been beaten up by thugs on a tour to New Zealand in 2009 seven months ago, is the most notable of several returnees to Lievremont's squad.
After seven months on the France sidelines the 21-year-old Stade Francais centre will pick up his fifth cap, and hope to relaunch his international career, playing alongside Yannick Jauzion at inside centre.
The return of 20-year-old right Bayonne winger Benjamin Fall, who scored a try against Samoa on his international debut in November, means Toulouse's Vincent Clerc is relegated to the bench.
Clermont captain Aurelien Rougerie will line up for his 56th cap, the first since he contributed to victory over Italy on March 9, 2008.
Completing that three-pronged attack is Toulouse back Clement Poitrenaud, who has not played for 'Les Bleus' since victory over Scotland in last year's Six Nations campaign.
Lievremont will also send Clermont prop Thomas Domingo in for only his second full cap, having debuted against Samoa.
Perpignan prop Nicolas Mas and Toulouse hooker William Servat complete the forward line ahead of locks Lionel Nallet and Pascal Pape.
In the third row Imanol Harinordoquy, of Biarritz, will be supported by Montpellier's Fulgence Ouedraogo and captain Thierry Dusautoir, who plays for Toulouse, ahead of the half-back pairing of Francois Trinh-Duc and fly-half Morgan Parra.
Lievremont has the versatile Jean-Baptiste Elissalde on the bench as a luxury replacement.
Doubts remain however over the participation of Trinh-Duc. Although not included among the replacements flyhalf Benjamin Boyet will remain with the squad in case the Montpellier No.10 pulls out.
Lievremont said Trinh-Duc, who started in the last three games of France's summer tour, had recently undergone "reassuring" scans but did not specify for what.
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Benjamin Fall, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 21 David Marty, 22 Vincent Clerc
Date: Sunday, February 7
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Time: 15:00 (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant
referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
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