Sébastien Vahaamahina has earned his first start for France after an impressive display off the bench in Ireland according to head coach Philippe Saint-André.
The Perpignan second row is one of three changes made by Saint-André for Saturday’s game with Scotland, with Antonie Claassen coming in for Yannick Nyanga and Mathieu Bastareaud getting the nod in the centres ahead of Florian Fritz.
Les Bleus are still searching for their first win of the competition, and Saint-André also revealed that Frédéric Michalak, who will start at fly-half, is likely to keep the kicking duties, having landed the vital conversion in Dublin.
Saint-André said: “Sébastien Vahaamahina played very well for 20 minutes against Ireland. This is a chance for him to start at the highest level.
“We will of course use our replacements though. We think that Yoann Maestri is at 100 per cent but we will know more later today. There is a scrum training session and a team session this afternoon.
“Yannick Nyanga isn’t as fresh as he was in November. He’s going to play his 30th game of the season on Saturday.
“Yannick is a great leader in the lineout but his ability to break tackles as he did so well in November, is not as strong now. It seemed like a good opportunity to bring him on at the end of a game to add his speed.
“Besides, Antonie Claassen is very good one against one and in game management. With regards to his two games off the bench, it was interesting to see him start a game.
“For the goal-kicking it will be the same philosophy as last week. The three kickers, Frédéric Michalak, Morgan Parra and Maxime Machenaud are working hard.
“It will no doubt be Frédéric MIchalak who starts with Morgan Parra taking on the longer kicks. They are intelligent so if one is struggling, the other can take over.”
