Wednesday 11 February 2015 16:24, UK
Eddy Ben Arous will make his first start for France against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday in the only change from the team which beat Scotland 15-8 in Paris.
The Racing Metro prop keeps his place after replacing loosehead Alexandre Menini, whose foot injury forced him off at half-time in the hard-fought victory over the Scots.
Ben Arous has been used twice before as a replacement; two years ago in a 24-9 reverse to New Zealand, and last weekend at the Stade de France.
Otherwise, it is the same team that failed to convince against Vern Cotter's men when fly-half Camille Lopez kicked all the points for the home side
Philippe Saint-Andre has stuck with his half-back pairing, selecting Lopez outside scrum-half Rory Kockott, despite criticism of the South African-born player following the Six Nations opener in Paris.
Brice Dulin is still hampered by a sore arm so Scott Spedding again starts at full-back for his fifth cap.
'Important'
France travel to the Aviva Stadium to challenge the defending champions, who started their campaign with a 26-3 win over Italy in Rome.
"It is important for us to win an away match against a major team, but to do that we have to be more effective than we were against Scotland," Saint-Andre said.
"Ireland are an extremely disciplined side. They usually give away only around eight penalties whereas the Scots give up 13-14.
"They are full of confidence and showed that when they seized the game by the scruff of the neck against the Italians once they were down to 14 men.
"They have won eight in a row and are the favourites for the title. We have to compete with them in every area, duels in the air where they are very strong, tackle hard and not give an inch."
Saint-Andre played down the fact the two teams will meet again in their 2015 World Cup pool in the autumn.
"No it is only psychological as to what happens for the rest of the Six Nations, the World Cup is another tournament," he said.
"The players are confident in themselves and up for the match which we hope we will produce a great performance. The last three matches with the Irish have been very tight, two draws and a defeat by two points, so expect another tight one."
France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Rory Kockott; 1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Pascal Pape, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Damien Chouly.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Remi Lamerat.
