Beefing up
France makes five changes to squad
Posted: Thursday March 11, 1999 03:37 PM
BEDARRIDES, France (Reuters) -- France, beaten 34-33 by Wales in Paris on Saturday, have made five changes to "beef up" its 22-man squad for the Five Nations game with England at Twickenham on March 20.
Three players in the side that started the match against Wales have been dropped - World Cup veteran Philippe Benetton, fellow flanker Marc Raynaud, who won his first cap in the Stade de France defeat, and wing Philippe Bernat-Salles.
Team manager Jo Maso said: "Of course we're expecting a very big physical challenge from our opponents and we've beefed up our defense to respond to it.
"It wasn't a question of carrying out a revolution the year of the World Cup, which remains our main objective," assistant trainer Pierre Villepreux said.
"It's clear that to trouble England we must rediscover the defensive qualities missing against Wales." England has won both its Five Nations matches this season. France narrowly beat Ireland in their opening game before losing to Wales.
Bernat-Salles, France's top scorer when it won its second straight grand slam in April, was replaced by Toulouse wing Xavier Garbajosa at halftime on Saturday while Benetton made way for Richard Castel of Beziers after an hour.
Also missing are center Richard Dourthe, injured after only four minutes on Saturday and now replaced by uncapped Pascal Giordani of Dax, and front row forward Marc Dal Maso.
Uncapped flanker Christophe Juillet, front row forward Marc de Rougemont and wing Christophe Dominici are drafted in.
Castel, a late inclusion in the squad for the Wales match after Olivier Magne pulled with a foot injury, is retained and Magne is back.
"With Giordani, a very physical center three-quarter, and Juillet the new blood injected [into the team] will allow us to succeed," Maso said.
"Before our poor game against the Welsh, we had nine [successive] wins in the tournament and we have won our last three matches against the English.
"We're going to Twickenham to beat the English with less pressure than if we had still been on course for the grand slam," he said.
France Squad
Forwards: David Auradou (Stade Francais), Olivier Brouzet (Begles-Bordeaux), Christian Califano (Toulouse), Richard Castel (Beziers), Raphael Ibanez (Perpignan), Christophe Juillet (Stade Francais), Thomas Lievremont (Perpignan), Olivier Magne (Brive), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Fabien Pelous (Toulouse), Marc de Rougemont (Begles), Franck Tournaire (Toulouse)
Backs: David Aucagne (Pau), Philippe Carbonneau (Brive), Thomas Castaignede (Castres), Franck Comba (Stade Francais), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Xavier Garbajosa (Toulouse), Pascal Giordani (Dax), Christophe Laussucq (Stade Francais), Thomas Lombard (Stade Francais), Emile Ntamack (Toulouse).
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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