Bearded warrior Chabal in at No.8
Racing-Metro powerhouse Sebastien Chabal is to get a run at No.8 for France as coach Marc Lievremont recalled a host of his Six Nations Grand Slam winners for the Test against Argentina in Montpellier on Saturday.
Chabal has been in outstanding form for his Paris side this season in the top 14 and coach Marc Lievremont said he wanted to see how he performed in the back row from the start of a match.
Chabal has been a regular in Lievremont's squads since he took over from Bernard Laporte as coach in 2008, but has been used as a lock up until now.
Chabal is one of 14 changes made to side that started last Saturday's game against Fiji, which the French won 34-12, as Lievremont experiments ahead of the Test match against Australia in Paris on November 27.
Only Biarritz utility back Damien Traille keeps his place at flyhalf, although he has a new halfback partner in the shape of Morgan Parra who replaces Dimitri Yachvili.
Clermont's Aurelien Rougerie gets a rare run at outside centre, while there is a first cap for 23-year-old Yoann Huget of Bayonne on the wing.
France: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Imanol Harinordoquy, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Jerome Porical.
Date: Saturday, November 20
Venue: Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
Kick-off: 20.45 (19.45 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Andy Macpherson (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
AFP