France recalls Boks beaters to face All Blacks

France coach Marc Lievremont has recalled flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo and centre Maxime Mermoz to the 23-man squad for the game against the All Blacks next Sunday morning (NZ time) in Marseille.

Ouedraogo, who was injured and missed the two test wins against world champions South Africa and Samoa, replaces Alexandre Lapandry while Mermoz, who started the game against the Springboks, also comes in.

In other changes from the squad that crushed Samoa 43-5 yesterday, Lievremont selected hooker William Servat ahead of Guilhem Guirado and lock Lionel Nallet over Pascal Pape.

Winger Benjamin Fall, 20, who won his first cap against Samoa, was initially named in the list but then withdrawn because of a sore left thigh muscle and replaced by centre Yann David.

Centre Yannick Jauzion, who has 62 caps but did not play against the Springboks, is in the squad.

In the pack, backrowers Imanol Harinorodoquy and Louis Picamoles, have been ruled out through injuries suffered against South Africa.

Prop Fabien Barcella, hooker William Servat and lock Lionel Nallet are back in the squad.

"We had to make choices and I can assure you some of them were not easy," Lievremont told a news conference.

"It will also be difficult to choose our starting line-up before Tuesday (Wednesday night NZ time) morning and I would say it's a good thing because it means that all the players involved in the first two matches performed well," he added.

"We more or less know where we are going and we know that high-level games are won by 22 players as was the case against the Springboks."

Squad:

Forwards: Fabien Barcella, Thomas Domingo, Nicolas Mas, Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Romain Millo-Chluski, Sebastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Julien Bonnaire, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Julien Puricelli

Backs: Julien Dupuy, Morgan Parra, Francois Trinh-Duc, Yannick Jauzion, David Marty, Damien Traille, Maxime Mermoz, Maxime Medard, Vincent Clerc, Yann David.

- Reuters