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WORLD SPORT

France make eight changes for test

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Captain Yachvili (above) will take over from scrum-half Elissalde

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa -- France have made eight changes for the second test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Captain Dimitri Yachvili, who was rested for the first test in Durban, replaces Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at scrum-half.

Flanker Remy Martin will make his first start after being preferred to Olivier Magne.

Nicolas Brusque replaces Julien Laharrague at full-back and center Damien Traille steps in for Florian Fritz.

"We decided to have a look at all the players because we feel that most of them play at the same level," manager Jo Maso said.

"France does not have 22 test quality players, we have 35 to 40."

The first test ended in a 30-30 draw.

South Africa coach Jake White made two unexpected changes to his side.

He recalled prop Lawrence Sephaka for his first test appearance since the 2003 Rugby World Cup and promoted Ricky Januarie to scrum-half at the expense of Fourie du Preez, who was man of the match in the first test.

Sephaka's inclusion gave the side black African representation and Januarie raised the number of Cape Coloured and African players in the squad to three. The third, winger Bryan Habana, retained his place from the first test.

White denied he had been under political pressure.

"I have got to emphasise that I have to pick a team that's in the interests of the whole nation," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Lawrence has been working hard on his game and as a coach this is a chance for me to give him an opportunity. I just felt that Ricky needed to get more game time as he is the third scrumhalf in our squad and has only played one test.

"From my point of view this is the best side that I can put out on the field."

South Africa - 15-Percy Montgomery; 14-Jean de Villiers, 13-Marius Joubert, 12-De Wet Barry, 11-Bryan Habana; 10-Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9-Ricky Januarie; 8-Jacques Cronje, 7-Danie Rossouw, 6-Schalk Burger, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Albert van den Berg, 3-Lawrence Sephaka, 2-John Smit (captain), 1-Os du Randt.

Replacements: 16-Hanyani Shimange, 17-CJ van der Linde, 18-Juan Smith, 19-Joe van Niekerk, 20-Fourie du Preez, 21-Jaque Fourie, 22-Brent Russell.

France: 15-Nicolas Brusque; 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Yannick Jauzion, 12-Damien Traille, 11-Cedric Heymans; 10-Frederic Michalak, 9-Dimitri Yachvili (captain); 8-Julien Bonnaire, 7-Yannick Nyanga, 6-Remy Martin, 5-Pascal Pape, 4-Thibault Privat, 3-Pieter De Villiers, 2-William Servat, 1-Sylvain Marconnet.

Replacements: 16-Sebastien Bruno, 17-Olivier Milloud, 18-Gregory Lamboley, 19-Olivier Magne, 20-Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 21-Benoit Baby, 22-Julien Laharrague

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