Bernhard Laporte again made wholesale changes to his French line-up, replacing seven players who tied a series 1-1 with the Springboks and making one positional switch for Saturday's one-off Test against New Zealand.

The French coach called up rookie prop Olivier Milloud to partner Olivier Azam and 65-Test veteran Christian Califano in an all-new front row and recalled lock Lionel Nallett.

David Skrela will debut at flyhalf, ousting Gerald Merceron - who scored all but five of France's points in the two Tests against South Africa. Flanker Jean Bouilhou and fullback Pepito Elhorga were also given their first caps.

Nicolas Jeanjean, who debuted at fullback in South Africa, has been moved to the wing to mark rampaging All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu.

Sebastien Bonetti was named to the reserves bench. Merceron was one of only two backs named to the seven-man substitutes' bench as Laporte predicted a tough, forward-dominated encounter.

Fabien Galthie, who will captain the French side from scrumhalf, said the changes were part of an established policy to blood new players and should not be seen as a consequence of last week's Test loss.

"It is not a sanction against the other players who played against South Africa," he said. "It is just a test for the new players."

Laporte said he had decided before leaving France to vary his team as much as possible over three southern hemisphere Tests as he embarked on a rebuilding campaign for the 2003 World Cup.

"We had five new caps in South Africa and they did well there so I trust these guys will do the same here," he said.

Laporte said he'd intended to make changes in each Test but resisted in the second Test against South Africa after his line-up grabbed a shock 32-23 win in the opening test earlier this month. "I think the temptation to win the series over the Springboks in South Africa was too much," he admitted.

France: Pepito Elhorga, Nicolas Jeanjean, Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Dominici, Stephane Glas, David Skrela, Fabien Galthie (capt), Patrick Tabacco, Olivier Magne, Olivier Brouzet, Lionel Nallet, Jean Bouilhou, Christian Califano, Olivier Azam, Olivier Milloud. Substitutes: Raphael Ibanez, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Pieter de
Villiers, David Auradou, Sebastien Chabal, Gerald Merceron, Sebastien Bonetti. - Sapa-AP