France ring changes for Scots opener

LONDON, England -- Six Nations defending champions France have named a much-changed side for their opening match against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Francois Trinh-Duc will be handed the crucial role at fly-half, the 21-year-old one of four uncapped players named by new coach Marc Lievremont.

Winger Julien Malzieu and props Lionel Faure and Julien Brugnaut are the other debutants.

Fulgence Ouedraogo gets the nod over Julien Bonnaire at flanker and will make only his second Test appearance, while Loic Jacquet comes in at lock for his third international for Les Bleus.

William Servat beats Dimitri Szarzewski to the hooker role and second-row forward Lionel Nallet starts in his first game as captain.

Cedric Heymans, a winger by trade, will fill in at full-back, while Florian Fritz makes his return to the France fold and will partner Damien Traille in midfield in the absence of Yannick Jauzion.

Trinh-Duc, who has shone for Montpellier this season, is one of the many players Lievremont coached when in charge of France's Under-21 side.

"Some could say that he lacks experience for this position, but he must start one day and he will be paired with (Jean-Baptiste) Elissalde and the center pair of Traille and Fritz," the coach said.

Only six players in France's starting XV for this weekend played at last year's World Cup where they finished in fourth place.

Scotland will hand a debut to Nick De Luca -- but Chris Paterson has been left out of the side in a surprise move by coach Frank Hadden.

Edinburgh player De Luca, 23, will start at center alongside Andrew Henderson, who has been passed fit to add some ballast to the midfield.

But it is the omission of Paterson, who has been struggling for game time at Premiership side Gloucester, which is the biggest surprise. Rory Lamont plays at full-back with Simon Webster and Nikki Walker selected on the wings.

Italy coach Nick Mallett has kept faith with the bulk of the team that played in September's World Cup defeat to Scotland in the final pool match for their opener against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

The English-born coach stood by a stalwart back three of David Bortolussi, Gonzalo Canale and Mirco Bergamasco to support wingers Kaine Robertson and Pablo Canavosio.

Flankers Mauro Bergamasco and Josh Sole also pair up again but there is a surprise at half-back, where Mallet has selected the untried partnership of Pietro Travagli and Andrea Masi. E-mail to a friend