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    MARCOUSSIS, France -- France made five changes, all in the pack, for the side to play Wales in the Six Nations championship at the Stade de France on Saturday. Prop Nicolas Mas and number eight Elvis Vermeulen, who missed the wins over Italy and Ireland, replace Pieter de Villiers and Sebastien Chabal. Prop Olivier Milloud, lock Jerome Thion and flanker Julien Bonnaire, who were on the bench at Croke Park, come back in the starting line-up. "We stuck to our rotation policy but we have also selected a team to win our third game of the championship," said coach Bernard Laporte, who is using the Six Nations to test as many players as possible before the 2007 World Cup. "After our two victories in Rome and Dublin, it's important to win this game at home and we know we'll have to be vigilant and respectful of our opponents who defeated us at the Stade de France two years ago," team manager Jo Maso added. Three other players who did not play a part in the first two games of the Championship -- uncapped hooker Benoit August, lock Gregory Lamboley and wing Aurelien Rougerie -- will be among the replacements. Vermeulen, 27, is one of the most powerful back row players in French rugby but had only won three caps during tours to South Africa in 2001 and New Zealand in 2003 before he was recalled last November. Another chance"Elvis had three very good games against New Zealand and Argentina. He was injured at the beginning of the championship and he deserves another chance to prove his worth even if Chabal did well against Italy and Ireland," said Laporte. "We wanted to test Nicolas because he is a true tighthead," he added, referring to Mas, who won the last of his five caps in March 2005 against Italy. The French coach said that the main question mark in the back line had been the scrum-half position. "We thought about giving a start to Dimitri Yachvili but felt that Pierre Mignoni deserved a game in Paris after playing so well away in Rome and Dublin," he added. "Dimitri will play against England." Wasps hooker Raphael Ibanez will continue as captain in the absence of regular skipper Fabien Pelous, who is out with an ankle injury. France team manager Jo Maso confirmed that Pelous would miss the entire Six Nations campaign as he has yet to fully recover from an ankle injury he picked up playing for Toulouse against Llanelli last December. Maso said: "Fabien still has our full confidence and we will be counting on him for the World Cup. We just hope he can get back into action soon with Toulouse so we can see how he is doing." France: 15-Clement Poitrenaud; 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-David Marty, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Christophe Dominici; 10-David Skrela, 9-Pierre Mignoni; 8-Elvis Vermeulen, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Serge Betsen, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Lionel Nallet, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-Raphael Ibanez (captain), 1-Olivier Milloud. Replacements: 16-Benoit August, 17-Sylvain Marconnet, 18-Gregory Lamboley, 19-Imanol Harinordoquy, 20-Dimitri Yachvili, 21-Lionel Beauxis, 22-Aurelien Rougerie |
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Prop Mas comes in to a much changed pack against Wales.
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