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France recall trio to face England

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MARCOUSSIS, France -- France have recalled Dimitri Yachvili and Sale number eight Sebastien Chabal for Sunday's Six Nations match against England at Twickenham.

In the third change to the side which defeated Wales 32-21 on February 24, veteran prop Pieter de Villiers recovers the tighthead slot at the expense of Nicolas Mas.

Mas takes a berth on the bench due to the absence of Sylvain Marconnet, ruled out for up to four months after a skiing accident. Sale hooker Sebastien Bruno comes back among the replacements in place of Benoit August.

"We have selected the best team of the moment," said team manager Jo Maso.

"We are going to Twickenham to win and to stay the only unbeaten team in this championship. We want to keep the momentum of our three wins to open the door to wonderful prospects for the World Cup."

Yachvili had been regarded as France's number one scrumhalf since the 2003 World Cup but was relegated to the bench for the three wins over Italy, Ireland and Wales. He takes over from Pierre Mignoni for the England clash.

"Pierre had three good games but Dimitri is a fine player, an 'elephant keeper', a real guide for the forwards. He has often been the man of the match against England," Maso said.

The 32-cap Yachvili scored 19, 18 and 16 points in France's three recent wins over the world champions, acquiring the nickname "Scourge of England".

Playing alongside flyhalf David Skrela, he will form the 29th different halfback partnership named by Bernard Laporte since he became national coach after the 1999 World Cup.

The main change in the pack is the return of Chabal, who replaces Elvis Vermeulen at number eight, after being rested against Wales.

"Sebastien plays club rugby in England. He had problems at international level but he proved against Italy and Ireland that he had made a lot of progress. This selection is the result of his efforts", Laporte said.

"We'll need his power against England because I expect a tough game, probably the toughest of the championship", he added.

France: 15-Clement Poitrenaud; 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-David Marty, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Christophe Dominici; 10-David Skrela, 9-Dimitri Yachvili; 8-Sebastien Chabal, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Serge Betsen, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Lionel Nallet, 3-Pieter de Villiers, 2-Raphael Ibanez (captain), 1-Olivier Milloud.

Replacements: 16-Sebastien Bruno, 17-Nicolas Mas, 18-Pascal Pape, 19-Imanol Harinordoquy, 20-Pierre Mignoni, 21-Lionel Beauxis, 22-Cedric Heymans.

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