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France without a replacement lock

Wednesday 02nd July 2008

Calf trouble: David Couzinet

French replacement lock David Couzinet has suffered a pulled calf muscle and has been forced to give up his place on les Bleus bench for the second Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Biarritz lock sustained the injury in training on Wednesday and has been replaced on the bench by Bourgoin fly-half Benjamin Boyet.

Couzinet's injury means the French team have no specialist replacement should captain Lionel Nallet or Sébastien Chabal be forced from the field.

Montpellier loose forward Louis Picamoles is expected to fulfil the role if need be.

France (revised): 15 Benjamin Thiery, 14 Alexis Palisson, 13 Maxim Mermoz, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 David Janin, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Sebastian Tillous-Borde, 8 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Matthieu Lievremont, 5 Lionel Nallet (captain), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Pierre Correia.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Benoit Lecouls, 18 Louis Picamoles, 19 Benjamin Boyet, 20 Yannick Caballero, 21 Dimitri Yachvili, 22 Jean-Baptiste Peyras.

Date: Saturday July 5, 2008
Kick-off: 20:05 (11:05 BST)
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Television match official: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Assessor: Andrew Cole (Australia)