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Chabal back to face Australia

Tuesday 18th November 2008

Recalled: Sébastien Chabal

France coach Marc Lièvremont has included Sébastien Chabal in his starting XV to face Australia in Paris on Saturday, one of two changes to the team that beat the Pacific Islands last weekend.

Scrum-half Sebastian Tillous-Bordes replaces the concussed Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, with Julien Tomas on the bench as back-up. Romain Millo-Chluski, replaced in the XV by Chabal, is also on the bench.

Otherwise, the bench is all the same as last week as well, as Lièvremont persists with the continuity of his developing side that was absent during the Six Nations earlier this year.

"Romain (Millo-Chluski) has played two sets of 80 minutes with good displays in both," explained Lièvremont.

"He also has a slight bump to the knee, and so we have given him a rest.

"Sébastien has had a big effect on the games he has appeared in, and his qualities in the scrum are unquestionable."

The other debating point was whether the more physical Louis Picamoles would oust Montpellier team-mate Fulgence Ouedraogo from the side, but Lièvremont said he was looking at other aspects when he made the choice.

"(He has) a capacity for taking line-out ball and taking the heat under the Australian up and under," said the French coach.

"We must concentrate on our game because Australia don't have many weaknesses, and we must give our best performance, better than the two previous ones, if we are to prevail."

France: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Benoit Baby, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 David Skrela, 9 Sebastien Tillous Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sébastien Chabal, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Benoit Lecouls, 18 Romain Millo Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Alexis Palisson.

Date: Saturday, November 22
Venue: Stade de France
Kick-off: 21:00 (20:00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Chris White (England) , David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Assessor: D Kerr (Scotland)

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