France unchanged for Wales clash

Morgan Parra retains his place at fly-half with Francois Trinh-Duc on the bench

France coach Marc Lievremont has named an unchanged side to face Wales in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final at Auckland’s Eden Park.

Lievremont opted to stick with the same starting XV and bench which overcame England 19-12 in the quarter-final.

Francois Trinh-Duc steered Les Bleus to victory late on but he remains among the replacements with Morgan Parra again starting at fly-half.

Dimitri Yachvili will rest a bruised thigh until Thursday but will start.

Lievremont has named two extra possible replacements because of other injury concerns and will finalise his bench by Thursday.

It is the most experienced French starting side since their semi-final appearance four years ago, boasting 687 caps in total.

Eleven members of the side played in their 28-9 victory over Wales at the end of this year’s Six Nations.

That is one of six victories by the French in the last seven meetings between the countries, the only exception when Warren Gatland’s men won the Grand Slam in 2008.

“The danger is for the players to start thinking they are too good…we are Latin, so there is always a risk,” said Lievremont after confirming his side.

“The Anglo-Saxons are far more pragmatic. I hope the prospect of playing in the final is enough.”

France have lost at the semi-final stage in the last two World Cups, both times at the hands of England.

But they are targeting their third final in the tournament, having lost to New Zealand in the inaugural event in 1987 and to Australia in 1999.

“We have to be capable of imposing our own style of rugby,” Lievremont added. “Wales have been playing with great intelligence. I have been impressed by their spirit and they have been playing world-class rugby.”

Lievremont’s team has already played twice at Eden Park at this year’s World Cup, losing 37-17 to the All Blacks before beating England in the quarter-final. Wales have yet to play there.

France team: Maxime Medard; Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Maxime Mermoz, Alexis Palisson; Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili; Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Nicolas Mas, Pascal Pape, Lionel Nallet, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Julien Bonnaire, Imanol Harinordoquy.

Replacements (from): Dimitri Szarzewski, Fabien Barcella, Julien Pierre, Louis Picamoles, Francois Trinh-Duc, David Marty, Cedric Heymans, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Jean-Marc Doussain.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15250395.stm