France v England, Six Nations, March 11
Parra and Trinh-Duc axed by France
ESPNscrum Staff
March 7, 2012
Lionel Beauxis prepares to land a drop-goal, Scotland v France, Six Nations, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland, February 26, 2012
Lionel Beauxis has been restored to the France line-up © Getty Images
Enlarge

Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc have been axed for France's Six Nations clash with England in Paris on Sunday.

The halfbacks have been rotated out by Philippe Saint-Andre following last weekend's 17-17 draw with Ireland, a result that ended their hopes of a possible Grand Slam decider against Wales in the final round.

Lionel Beauxis returns to the starting line-up at fly-half for the first time since 2009, while Julien Dupuy replaces Parra in the No.9 jersey after a similarly long spell on the sidelines.

In the pack, Julien Bonnaire continues at openside, with Imanol Harinordoquy at No.8, and Louis Picamoles among the replacements.

"We can still win the tournament," Saint-Andre said. "We will get together to produce a big performance against England. We will think about the following match after that. We will look to be a bit more tactically astute.

"At the highest level you can make a mistake once. The important thing is to make sure you don't make the same mistake a second time. What was incredible [against Ireland] was how we dominated the possession, the set-piece, the penalties, the line breaks and the tackles. But once again dominating is not winning."

France: C Poitrenaud (Toulouse), V Clerc (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), W Fofana (Clermont Auvergne), J Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne); L Beauxis (Toulouse), J Dupuy (Stade Francais); JB Poux (Toulouse), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan), P Pape (Stade Francais), Y Maestri (Toulouse), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

Replacements: W Servat (Toulouse), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), L Picamoles (Toulouse), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), M Mermoz (Perpignan)

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.