Marc Lievremont names 23 member French squad for RWC warm-up test against Ireland
France's head coach, Marc Lievremont, has announced a 23-member squad for their forthcoming Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Ireland on August 13 in Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux. Lievremont has made certain changes in his starting line-up to face the
Irish side before their home crowd. Raphael Lakafia will be seen for the first time in action for his national side on Saturday as the head coach is expected to handover the first test cap to the 22-year-old loose forward. Lievremont made the announcement
of his team roster on August 10.
Talking about his new prospect, Raphael Lakafia, French coach Lievremont said that the young man is a great player to watch and the management wants to see him in action with out wasting further time. Praising Lakafia, the coach said that, “We wanted to
include Raphaël Lakafia as soon as possible. Over the last five weeks I've found him to be intelligent, very at ease with ball in hand and as part of the group. We believe he is ready.”
Meanwhile, talking about his side he said that we was left with very little time to make big decisions for the Rugby World Cup 2011 and will make some experiments in the warm-up clash. The coach said that no compromise will be made for the world showpiece
starting next month and best side will be selected for the up coming event.
Lievremont added that, “We want to have consistency and have two good matches by lining up two homogenous groups. It's a mix of youth and experience in every row.” While, giving the details about the expected changes in his side French coach said that Dimitri
Szarzewski will start the game as hooker, Dimitri Yachvili as scrum-half and Vincent Clerc will be appointed at right wing’s position.
French squad for warm up against Ireland:
France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphaël Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romian Millo-Chluski, 4 Julien
Pierre, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Sylvain Marconnet
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Skrela, 22 Maxime Médard, 23 Fabien Barcella.
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