France mix it up

France have brought three new faces into their RBS 6 Nations Championship squad for the clash with England.

Toulouse full-back Clement Poitrenaud is recalled, replacing Anthony Floch in the one change behind the scrum.

And in the pack, locks Romain Millo-Chlusky and Pascal Pape come in for the dropped Arnaud Mela and Loic Jacquet.

Head coach Marc Lievremont keeps faith with the front row that has struggled in patches in the wins against Scotland and Ireland over the first two weekends of the tournament.

That means there is no place for experienced prop Sylvain Marconnet, who is back in action after almost a year out with a leg injury.

Yannick Jauzion, France's star centre over the past few years, also misses out, despite recovering from recent injury problems.

Marconnet, who has 71 caps, has made just three substitute appearances for Stade Francais since his return and is not deemed ready by Lievremont.

"I have seen Sylvain come back, but it is not reasonable to integrate him into the group for an international match like this," he said.

On the absence of Jauzion, Lievremont added: "He is still in the process of coming back and is not yet at his full potential."

The scrum went backwards at times in the 27-6 victory against Scotland, especially in the first half, and again in the final 20 minutes of the narrow 26-21 triumph over Ireland on Saturday.