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France will fight it out with Ireland for the top spot in Pool D on Sunday at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. The winner takes on Argentina in the quarter-finals, while the loser faces the All Blacks. Neither road looks easy, though the psychological boost from victory will be a highly motivating factor.
Les Bleus have been sitting and waiting since their match against Canada in Milton Keynes on October 1 to return to action. Only two changes have been made by head coach Philippe Saint-André. Bruising no8 Louis Picamoles is back in to win his 50th cap, with Damien Chouly’s moving to the flank, his lineout prowess preferred to the defensive strengths of Bernard le Roux. Out wide there is a recall for Noa Nakaitaci at the expense of debutant Rémy Grosso.
Joe Schmidt has switched three players in his starting lineup after a tough outing against the Azzurri. Cian Healy runs out at loosehead with Jack McGrath on the bench, and in somewhat of a surprise move Devin Toner is in at lock in place of the increasingly influential Iain Henderson. At the back, Rob Kearney has returned to fitness and takes over from Simon Zebo at fullback, with the latter dropping out of the match day squad altogether.
France have not beaten Ireland since 2011, having lost the two previous match-ups and drawn the two before that. Prior to that they had enjoyed a long stretch of dominance, winning 11 from 12 from 2004 until 2011.
FRANCE
1 Eddy Ben Arous 2 Guilhem Guirado 3 Rabah Slimani 4 Pascal Papé 5 Yoann Maestri 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt.) 7 Damien Chouly 8 Louis Picamoles 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde 10 Frédéric Michalak 11 Brice Dulin 12 Wesley Fofana 13 Mathieu Bastareaud 14 Noa Nakaitaci 15 Scott Spedding
16 Benjamin Kayser 17 Vincent Debaty 18 Nicolas Mas 19 Alexandre Flanquart 20 Bernard le Roux 21 Morgan Parra 22 Rémi Talès 23 Alexandre Dumoulin
IRELAND
1 Cian Healy 2 Rory Best 3 Mike Ross 4 Devin Toner 5 Paul O’Connell (capt.) 6 Peter O’Mahony 7 Sean O’Brien 8 Jamie Heaslip 9 Conor Murray 10 Jonathan Sexton 11 Dave Kearney 12 Robbie Henshaw 13 Keith Earls 14 Tommy Bowe 15 Rob Kearney
16 Richardt Strauss 17 Jack McGrath 18 Nathan White 19 Iain Henderson 20 Chris Henry 21 Eoin Reddan 22 Ian Madigan 23 Luke Fitzgerald
