Clerc appeared as a replacement during the victory over Scotland last weekend © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Vincent Clerc | Marc Lievremont

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: France | Ireland

France coach Marc Lievremont has made two changes to his side for this weekend's mouth-watering clash with Ireland in Paris.

Vincent Clerc and Alexis Palisson come in for wings Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall, who were yesterday both forced to withdraw from the the team's opening win against Scotland on Sunday with injuries. Brive's Palisson has been preferred to Clermont wing Julien Malzieu while Jean-Baptiste Poux, who was also called up yesterday to replace Luc Ducalcon, starts from the bench with Sylvain Marconnet moving to the stands.

"You don't change a winning team," said Lievremont. "Playing Vincent Clerc from the start shouldn't cause a debate, there was a lot of discussion on who to play on the left wing. We decided to go with the versatility and left foot of Alexis Palisson. We know the qualities of Julien Malzieu but it seemed interesting to us to have the presence of Alexis alongside Clement Poitrenaud."

Controversial centre Mathieu Bastareaud has kept his place in the starting line-up after he made an impressive comeback against Scotland, inspiring Les Bleus to and 18-9 triumph at Murrayfield. Making his first Test start since disgracing himself by falsely claiming he had been assaulted during his country's tour of New Zealand last summer, the 21-year-old responded with his first two international tries.

Lievremont has also demanded his side raise their game for the first of three home games in this year's Championship. "I believe we were in Scotland's half for 60-65% percent of the time and we had 55 percent possession. But we failed to kill the match as a contest," Lievremont said. "It is imperative that we do better against Ireland, who have more weapons than the Scots.

France team to play Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday, February 13:

C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); V Clerc (Toulouse), M Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), A Palisson (Brive); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont); T Domingo (Clermont), W Servat (Toulouse), N Mas (Perpignan), L Nallet (Racing Metro), P Pape (Stade Francais), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz).

Replacements : D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), S Marconnet (Stade Francais), J Pierre (Clermont), J Bonnaire (Clermont), D Marty (Perpignan), F Michalack (Toulouse), J Malzieu (Clermont).