Jacques Brunel has made three changes to his France team for their trip to Cardiff in the final round of the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations and the marquee news sees the captaincy handed to Mathieu Bastareaud.
Bastareaud missed the first two games of this year’s Championship as France slipped to defeats to both Ireland and Scotland.
Click here for the complete 2018 NatWest 6 Nations fixture list
But his return to the starting XV has coincided with a French revival that has seen them beat both Italy and England in back-to-back rounds.
And with Guilhem Guirado injured for Super Saturday in the Championship as France head to Wales, Bastareaud’s brilliance has been rewarded with the captaincy.
Two of the three changes this weekend for France come in the front row where Adrien Pelissie comes in at hooker for Guirado while Cedate Gomes Sa replaces Rabah Slimani at tighthead prop.
And in the backline, Gael Fickou is brought onto the wing with Benjamin Fall moving to full-back and Hugo Bonneval dropping out of the matchday 23.
That means that Remy Grosso remains the left winger while Bastareaud and Geoffrey Doumayrou are the midfield pairing again.
Francois Trinh-Duc and Maxime Machenaud are the half-backs with Marco Tauleigne at No.8 and Yacouba Camara and Wenceslas Lauret at flanker.
The second row of Paul Gabrillagues and Sebastien Vahaamahina is unchanged while Jefferson Poirot is the sole survivor in the front row from Le Crunch.
On the bench, Camille Chat is the cover at hooker while Bernard Le Roux and Mathieu Babillot are the back five cover in the pack, the No.23 shirt goes to Geoffrey Palis.
France team to face Cardiff on Saturday:
15. Benjamin Fall – Montpellier 14. Gael Fickou – Toulouse 13. Mathieu Bastareaud – Toulon (captain) 12. Geoffrey Doumayrou – La Rochelle 11. Remy Grosso – Clermont 10. Francois Trinh-Duc – Toulon 9. Maxime Machenaud – Racing 92
1. Jefferson Poirot – Bordeaux-Begles 2. Adrien Pelissie – Bordeaux-Begles 3. Cedate Gomes Sa – Racing 92 4. Sebastien Vahaamahina – Clermont 5. Paul Gabrillagues – Stade Francais 6. Yacouba Camara – Montpellier 7. Wenceslas Lauret – Racing 92 8. Marco Tauleigne – Bordeaux
Replacements: 16. Camille Chat – Racing 92 17. Dany Priso – La Rochelle 18. Rabah Slimani – Clermont 19. Bernard Le Roux – Racing 92 20. Mathieu Babillot – Castres 21. Baptiste Couilloud – Lyon 22. Lionel Beauxis – Lyon 23. Geoffrey Palis – Castres
