Wales v France - Preview

Winger Alex Cuthbert replaces Tom James in one of three Wales changes to the starting XV.

The other changes come in the pack, as flanker Dan Lydiate replaces Justin Tipuric and Bradley Davies stands in for injured lock Luke Charteris.

Winger Djibril Camara makes his debut in one of five changes for France.

Scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, flanker Antoine Burban, lock Paul Jedrasiak and prop Rabah Slimani are the other four fresh faces for Les Bleus.

Warren Gatland

"Everyone talks about French flair and where has the French flair gone? In the past, they had absolute world-class quality players in attack.

"The reason is not so much French flair any more - it's not because they haven't got the players - it's just teams defensively are so organised. There is just no space on the field.

"You get breaks in the game. They are made by someone missing a tackle or someone making a system error - that's where the breaks are. At this level, not many players make mistakes any more and not many players miss tackles.

"Where's the flair gone? Well, we are all trying to be innovative and hopefully trying to create space, but the more you try to be creative in attack, the better teams become defensively as well."

Head-to-head

Wales have won their last four Tests against France. This is their best run since they won six in succession between 1952-1957.

France's last win over Wales came in the World Cup semi-final in 2011. They won 9-8 as Wales had Sam Warburton sent off.

Brice Dulin's try in last year's encounter was the first France had scored against Wales since their 28-9 win in the Six Nations in 2011.

Wales

Wales are unbeaten in their last six Six Nations games (W5 D1), their best run since winning eight in a row between 2007-09.

France have won three Six Nations matches in a single tournament once in the last four years (2014).

They have lost on their last four trips to the Principality Stadium - this includes two games in the 2015 World Cup against Ireland and New Zealand.

France have had the most carries (224) and made the most metres (795) in the 2016 tournament.

Wales

Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Scott Baldwin, Samson Lee, Bradley Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (capt), Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Tomas Francis, Jake Ball, Justin Tipuric, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Anscombe.

France

Maxime Medard, Vrimi Vakatawa, Maxime Mermoz, Jonathan Danty, Djbril Camara, Jules Plisson, Maxime Machenaud; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Rabah Slimani, Paul Jedrasiak, Alexandre Flanquart, Wencelsas Lauret, Antoine Burban, Damien Chouly.

Replacements: Camille Chat, Uini Atonio, Vincent Pelo, Yoann Maestri, Loann Goujon, Sebastien Bezy, Francois Trinh-Duc, Gael Fickou.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Touch judges: JP Doyle (RFU) & Luke Pearce (RFU)

TMO: Shaun Veldsman (SARU)

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Schmidt Ireland Selection Decided

Joe Schmidt has admitted his latest ever Ireland team selection has proved “unsettling and frustrating” after Simon Zebo failed a last-ditch fitness test before Saturday’s match against France.

Fergus McFadden has been drafted on to Ireland’s bench for the Six Nations encounter in Paris, with Zebo unable to shake off knee trouble and Keith Earls still recovering from suspected concussion.

Schmidt took what, for him, has been the unprecedented step of delaying his team announcement until after Ireland’s final training session on home soil before flying out to France.

The wing McFadden was omitted from Ireland’s initial Six Nations squad, but has now been pressed into service despite initially being selected for Leinster’s Pro12 encounter with Zebre on Friday night.

“That’s the latest selection and change we’ve had to make,” said Schmidt. “Normally we would name the match squad before training, and everyone would be fully fit and have absolute clarity on what their role was and where they were training. It’s probably a bit unsettling and frustrating, but we have to get around it.”

Ireland opened their Six Nations campaign with a bruising 16-16 draw with Wales in Dublin on Sunday. Schmidt lamented the realities of the short break between facing Warren Gatland’s Wales and Guy Noves’ France, while also counting hefty injury collateral.

Johnny Sexton and Andrew Trimble have won their own fitness battles to face Les Bleus, with Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney fit again too. Fly-half Sexton has brushed off a heavy blow to his neck, with Trimble recovering from a shoulder issue and O’Brien and Kearney now past hamstring problems.

Schmidt felt Ireland had little option but to delay their selection while sweating on Zebo and Earls, only for both wingers to fail in their fitness bids.

“We were just trying to clarify the fitness of Simon Zebo and Keith Earls, both of whom we have left out of the squad,” said Schmidt. “One of the reasons it took a while was that they got through training but at the same time we just felt they weren’t 100% fit and it was a risk.

“There’s nothing worse than having someone replaced early in the game who wasn’t potentially fully fit. And having someone come off the bench who isn’t fully fit isn’t probably the best thing to do when you’re going to Paris.

“Simon Zebo was just a little bit sore and couldn’t stretch out his knee fully. Keith Earls will probably complete the last step of his HIA [head injury assessment] tomorrow, but we have to name a team today.

“It’s one of those things with a six-day turnaround, particularly when you’re travelling. If we had another day at home we could hedge our bets a little bit, but we have to get on a plane at 3.15 this afternoon, and we’ve got to take the players who are available to play.”

Sexton insisted he is raring to go despite trudging off in the final throes of the Wales match. Schmidt’s men are chasing a second successive victory in France for the first time since 1927; Sexton is adamant that statistic outweighs the fact that Ireland have not lost to France since 2011.

France have spent their last three clashes with Ireland heaping the pressure on Sexton, and the Leinster playmaker expects another physical examination with Jonathan Danty in midfield.

“I’m OK now, I just got a bang on top of the head and it just compressed my neck a little bit,” said Sexton. “But I’m fit to go and really looking forward to it.

“I’ll be fine – I probably felt the way front-rowers feel every day, but as a soft out-half I just didn’t hide it as well. We’ve only had one chance to see France under their new management, but some of the new individuals they’ve thrown in have impressed. They’ve got dangerous guys across the backline.

“I’ve played against Danty a few times when I was in Paris, and he’s pretty similar to Mathieu Bastareaud in stature. He’s got a lot of ball-playing abilities and speed to add to that too though.

“But we’ve prepared really well for it, we’ve tried to give them the respect they deserve. I don’t think you can ever go to Paris confident. They are never beaten over there, it’s a tough place to go. Just because we’ve had a little purple patch against them doesn’t mean anything now.”

Ireland 

R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble, J Payne (both Ulster), R Henshaw (Connacht), D Kearney; J Sexton (both Leinster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster, capt), N White (Connacht), M McCarthy, D Toner (both Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), S O’Brien, J Heaslip (both Leinster).

Replacements R Strauss (Leinster), J Cronin (Munster), T Furlong (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), T O’Donnell (Munster), E Reddan, I Madigan, F McFadden (all Leinster).

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Noves Proves Lucky Guy in Paris

Getty Images

Guy Noves was spared an early embarrassment as France came from eight points behind to beat Italy 23-21 in the opening match of the Six Nations.

France had won all eight previous matches between the teams at the Stade de France but for long periods on Saturday, a ninth was in doubt, despite a revelatory try-scoring debut from Fiji-born wing Virimi Vakatawa.

Italy's two previous away wins in the championship they joined in 2000 both came at Scotland's expense, but they led with five minutes remaining in Paris.

Jules Plisson's long-range penalty ultimately broke their hearts and denied Jacques Brunel's side a famous victory and launchpad for this campaign, with Italy captain Sergio Parisse missing a last-gasp drop-goal attempt.

France's tries came from Vakatawa, Damien Chouly and Hugo Bonneval, with Italy's responses from Parisse, winning his 115th cap, and Carlo Canna.

Five hundred military personnel were employed to patrol the first major event to be staged at the Stade de France since the November attacks. President Hollande was present, as he was on the night of the attacks.

On the pitch, France were far from convincing. Noves had 22 years at the helm of Toulouse before taking the international job, winning 10 French league titles and four European crowns.

The 62-year-old will need to pep up the French performance significantly if they are to trouble Ireland on the same pitch next Saturday.

France rode their luck in the first half and might have gone to the dressing room behind, rather than 10-8 ahead. Italy centre Michele Campagnaro was tackled barely a yard from the line in the 40th minute following a scything run.

A warning shot from Italy came in the eighth minute when Canna slotted a 30-metre drop goal, but the fly-half later missed a pair of seemingly routine kicks.

On his debut for France, Toulouse scrum-half Sebastien Bezy also failed to drape himself in glory as he squandered three first-half shots at goal. He was later relieved, and Plisson took the glory.

France's wild-card winger Vakatawa made his first big impact in the 15th minute. Promoted from the Sevens ranks, without a Top 14 club and lacking 15-a-side experience, he looked right at home

Vakatawa darted over in the left corner for an eye-catching try after a spell of French pressure. Fed by Maxime Medard, he side-stepped Leonardo Sato to dot down.

Parisse hit back for Italy when he led a driving maul over the French line and grounded the ball, but Canna fluffed the conversion.

Impressive in spurts, France regained the lead with Gael Fickou orchestrating a tap-penalty move that saw Wenceslas Lauret send Chouly surging over in the right corner.

But there was no letting up from Italy after the break, Canna finally bisecting the posts after an infringement by Eddy Ben Arous to put the buoyant visitors in front, and they thrillingly led 18-10 after a converted try two minutes later.

Parisse was inches away but could not get the ball down. Italy kept possession and Canna steamed in before converting his own score.

A French lifeline arrived when Bonneval buried in at the left corner after a charging run from Vakatawa carried the hosts deep into Italian territory.

Plisson converted and then booted a 69th-minute penalty to inch France ahead at 20-18, but Kelly Haimona responded five minutes later after Uini Atonio was penalised.

It was then Parisse's turn to be penalised, and from 50 metres, Plisson nailed the match-winning kick.

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