Marc Lievremont has not been afraid to make changes on top of the retirees. Out go Sebastien Chabal, Jerome Thion, Clement Poitrenaud, Pierre Mignoni and David Marty on top of Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Christophe Dominici and Serge Betsen who have all retired from internationals. Utility back Frederic Michalak has taken a year off from international duty to play Super-14 rugby in South Africa and props Sylvain Marconnet, Pieter De Villiers and Olivier Milloud were not considered for selection because of injury.
The new faces in the squad are: props Julien Brugnault of Dax and Lionel Faure of Sale, plus Albi lock Arnaud Mela, Bourgoin scrum-half Morgan Parra, Montpellier fly-half François Trinh-Duc and Clermont centre Julien Malzieu.
The Captain is Castres lock Lionel Nallet and his first game in charge will be against Scotland at Murrayfield on the 3rd February.
Squad:
Backs: Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Morgan Parra, Francois Trin-Dhuc, David Skrela, Florian Fritz, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, Julien Malzieu, Cedric Heymans, Aurelien Rougerie.
Forwards: Julien Brugnaut, Lionel Faure, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Loic Jacquet, Lionel Nallet, Arnaud Mela, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Elvis Vermeulen.