FRANCE COACH PHILIPPE Saint-André has made two changes to his side for Sunday’s hugely-anticipated Pool D clash with Ireland – a battle which will decide who finishes top.

He’s made switches to both his backs and forwards.

Number eight Louis Picamoles and wing Noa Nakaitaci – who started Les Bleus’ first two games at the tournament – are back in the starting XV. Bernard Le Roux and Remy Grosso miss out.

Meanwhile, there’s also one positional switch. Damien Chouly moves to openside flanker, having played against Canada from number eight.

Ten of the team started in February’s Six Nations defeat to the Irish.

France (v Ireland)

15. Scott Spedding
14. Noa Nakaitaci
13. Mathieu Bastareaud
12. Wesley Fofana
11. Brice Dulin
10. Frederic Michalak
9. Sebastien Tillous-Borde

1. Eddy Ben Arous
2. Guilhem Guirado
3. Rabah Slimani
4. Pascal Pape
5. Yoann Maestri
6. Thierry Dusautoir (captain)
7. Damien Chouly
8. Louis Picamoles

Replacements

16. Benjamin Kayser
17. Vincent Debaty
18. Nicolas Mas
19. Alexandre Flanquart
20. Bernard Le Roux
21. Morgan Parra
22. Remi Tales
23. Alexandre Dumoulin

Letter from France camp: Les Blues incredibly confident for Ireland clash

‘They posted a pic of someone running over ROG in our WhatsApp group’