France recall Bastareaud for grand slam game

France coach Marc Lievremont has recalled centre Mathieu Bastareaud ahead of David Marty to add weight to his backline for the Six Nations grand slam game against England at the Stade de France.

The return of the bulky 21-year-old centre, who has eight caps to his name, is the only change from the team that defeated Italy 46-20 last weekend.

"David performed well against Italy but we didn't forget Mathieu's very good performances in the first games of the championship," coach Marc Lievremeont told a news conference.

"With rather lightweight wings and fullback, we decided to give more density to the middle of our backline."

Bastareaud started France's first three victories against Scotland, Ireland and Wales but was rested on the bench for the Italy game because he had not fully recovered from an ankle injury suffered in a club game during the Six Nations break.

Marty, who is 27 and has 28 caps to his name, seized the opportunity to show his quality by scoring two tries against the Azzurri.

'REAL CLASH'

Lievremont said the selectors also discussed the possibility of promoting Julien Malzieu on the right wing but finally decided to retain Marc Andreu, who celebrated his first full cap with a try against Italy.

"We went for Marc because he is punchy and has a lot of dynamism and aggression in defence," Lievremont said.

There was no discussion however about giving a start to Sebastien Chabal for the first time this season in the second row.

"There was no discussion about that. We are very happy with the pair of Lionel Nallet and Julien Pierre and Sebastien's capability of boosting the team when he comes on is a bonus," said Didier Retiere, assistant coach in charge of the forwards.

Lievremont added that Chabal and the other replacements would play a particularly important part in Saturday's game.

"We are expecting a real clash and a summit in terms of commitment and ferocity," he said.

"The England team are probably hurt but they have the players to punish us with their extremely direct game and they also have powerful and fast backs who can hit us on turnovers."

- Reuters