Another chance for Yachvili

2006-03-08 20:45

Paris - France handed scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili another chance to beat bitter rivals England in the Six Nations for the third successive year when he was named in the starting lineup for Sunday's match at the Stade de France.

The 25-year-old scored 19 points against the English at the same venue two years ago in the Grand Slam clinching match and a further 18 last year at Twickenham as France won 18-17.

Yachvili replaces Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and will play alongside flyhalf Frederic Michalak in two changes to the starting XV that beat Italy unimpressively a fortnight ago.

The other change sees experienced prop Sylvain Marconnet come in for Olivier Milloud, who like Elissalde drops to the bench.

Both France and England still have a chance of landing the title as both have suffered one defeat in their three matches - each against Scotland.

Team (15-1):

Thomas Castaignede (Saracens/ENG); Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais); Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz); Thomas Lievremont (Biarritz), Olivier Magne (London Irish/ENG), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse); Fabien Pelous (Toulouse/capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz); Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), Raphael Ibanez (Wasps/ENG), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais)

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Lionel Nallet (Castres), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), Ludovic Valbon (Brive), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).

- AFP