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MARCOUSSIS, France - Hosts France made the surprise choice of wing Cedric Heymans at fullback ahead of Clement Poitrenaud for Saturday's (NZ time) opening game of the rugby World Cup against Argentina.
Halfbacks Pierre Mignoni and David Skrela will start the game at the Stade de France, team manager Jo Maso said on Monday.
Remy Martin and Imanol Harinordoquy will form the backrow with Serge Betsen, with Christophe Dominici and Aurelien Rougerie on the wings. Frederic Michalak and Sebastien Chabal will be on the bench.
"We expect a tough game and forward play will be decisive, so we decided to go for five forwards and two backs among the replacements to counter the power of the Pumas' pack," coach Bernard Laporte said.
"The Pumas beat us four times in our last five encounters but we won the last one in November."
The French coach said Heymans, Rougerie, Martin and Harinordoquy won their place in the starting line-up due to their performances in three warm-ups games against England and Wales.
"Heymans played well at fullback in Cardiff," he said of the Toulouse player.
"We needed him in the team to cover the wing and fullback positions as we decided to have five forwards and two backs on the bench."
Another question mark hanging over the French line-up was the halfbacks pairing, with Pierre Mignoni vying Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at halfback and David Skrela with Frederic Michalak at first five-eighths.
"Pierre and David played well during the Six Nations and in our three warm-up games. It's difficult to say they are on top but we had to choose and we are not going to change everything at the last minute," Laporte said.
France, Argentina and Ireland are the three contenders for the two qualifying places for the quarter-finals in Pool D, which also includes Georgia and Namibia.
Team manager Maso said that the whole squad would play a vital part in France's bid to win the World Cup.
"Today, we gave the nod to 22 players, it doesn't mean that the same team will start the game against Ireland," he said.
"If we want to win the World Cup for the first time we'll have to win seven games and to do that we'll have to rely on 30 players".
France
15-Cedric Heymans, 14-Aurelien Rougerie, 13-Yannick Jauzion, 12- Damien Traille, 11-Christophe Dominici, 10-David Skrela, 9-Pierre Mignoni, 8-Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Remy Martin, 6-Serge Betsen, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Fabien Pelous, 3-Pieter de Villiers, 2-Raphael Ibanez (captain), 1-Olivier Milloud.
Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18-Sebastien Chabal, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Thierry Dusautoir, 21-Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 22-Frederic Michalak.
- REUTERS
