Six Nations
France add Medard and Vahaamahina
ESPN Staff
February 26, 2013
Maxime Medard celebrates as he races away, Scotland v France, Six Nations, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland, February 26, 2012
Maxime Medard is back in the France mix © Getty Images
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Teams: France

France have handed a call up to Toulouse back Maxime Medard and Perpignan second-row Sébastien Vahaamahina ahead of their round four Six Nations clash with Ireland in Dublin.

Medard comes into the side in place of Benjamin Fall while Vahaamahina replaces Jocelina Suta. Elsewhere in the squad, Phillipe Saint-Andre has opted against mass change and has retained the rest of the 23-man party that faced England on Saturday.

France are currently without a win in their opening three matches of the Six Nations and Saint-Andre's team are under pressure to end their campaign on a winning note with matches against Ireland and Scotland remaining. Fall and Suta both played against England on Saturday but neither will be in the mix for their next game in Dublin on March 9.

Medard last played for France during the 2012 Six Nations while Vahaamahina has just one cap to his name which came against Australia last year.

"We've made two changes as we prepare for our final two games on the basis of our match against the English," said Saint Andre. "Our squad functioned better at Twickenham. We need to build on that progress. With a lot of youngsters still learning at the highest level, this continuity is important."

"We watched all the (French) Championship fixtures from this weekend and reviewed our match. Maxime [Médard] has shown that he is back to his best level after his injury and will bring us his skills and experience. As for Sébastien [Vahaamahina], he participated in the November Tests with the French national side. At the moment he is performing very well with his club. He has a lot of room for progress which good for the French team.

"They are players that we've been following for a long time in view of the 2015 World Cup and it's good that they reintegrate into the group so they can work with the squad and get game time. "

France squad:

Forwards: Vincent Debaty, Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Dimitri Szarzewski, Luc Ducalcon, Nicolas Mas, Yoann Maestri, Christophe Samson, Yannick Nyanga, Thierry Dusautoir, Antonie Claassen, Louis Picamoles, Sébastien Vahaamahina

Backs: Maxime Machenaud, Morgan Parra, Frédéric Michalak, François Trinh-Duc, Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fofana, Florian Fritz, Yoann Huget, Vincent Clerc, Maxime Medard

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