Preview - Romania v France
Castaignède returns to the fly-half role
Thomas Castaignède has been named as France's fly-half for the first French June Test against Romania on Saturday in Bucharest.
The former "little prince" of French Rugby has played at fly-half 19 times for France but the last was more than six years ago in a Six Nations match against England.
Since his return to the blue shirt in the November Tests 2005, he has played in the centre or at full-back with the playmaking entrusted to Frédéric Michalak.
But with Michalak ruled out for June with a shoulder injury, Castaignède gets his chance in the role, as selectors Jo Maso and Bernard Laporte seek a back-up to Michalak - who can also kick goals - for the 2007 Rugby World Cup
"The choice of Thomas is the wisest solution, it is not a coincidental choice," declared Maso on Wednesday.
Castaignède will team up with 16-cap Pierre Mignoni at scrum-half.
The team announced Wednesday by Laporte and Maso includes two new caps: Castres prop David Attoub and Toulouse's new back-row signing Thierry Dusautoir, who joins from champions Biarritz.
"Dusautoir is a player who has a strong potential. We believe in him," continued Maso.
"He has only not yet been selected because each time we wanted to call on him he was injured."
Clément Poitrenaud makes his return to the back after one year lost to injury and a dip in form.
Philippe Bidabé receives his second cap as a reward largely for his role in Biarritz's demolition of Toulouse in the top 14 final last weekend.
Laporte specified that changes would be made between this Test and the one next week in Cape Town against South Africa, in particular, the call-up of South-African born prop Pieter de Villiers.
"He was born in the Cape, we couldn't deprive him of the happiness of playing there against South Africa", said Laporte.
Laporte also warned his players that this Test would not be a holiday.
"It is an examination of for everyone," he said.
"There are still ten matches before the World Cup including the five in the Six Nations, and that will go very quickly."
Meanwhile Romania, depleted by last-minute injuries, named several newcomers in their team for the match.
Experienced number eight Ovidiu Tonita of Perpignan and Brive prop Petrisor Toderasc are injured and will miss the match while fellow prop Cezar Popescu of Agen is named on the bench.
Uncapped flanker Stelian Burcea, centre Robert Dascalu and young full back Florin Vlaicu are included.
Catalin Fercu, who is a highly-rated youngster, and Ioan Teodorescu will play on the wing while veteran Romeo Gontineac takes the inside centre role to support fly-half Ionut Dimofte.
France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Cédric Heymans, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Philippe Bidabé, 10 Thomas Castaignède, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Remy Martin, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Fabien Pelous (cap), 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 David Attoub, 2 Raphael Ibañez, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Jérôme Thion, 19 Imañol Harinordoquy, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Marty, 22 Julien Laharrague.
Romania: 15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Catalin Fercu, 13 Robert Dascalu, 12 Romeo Gontineac, 11 Ioan Teodorescu, 10 Ionut Dimofte, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Cosmin Ratiu, 7 Marian Tudori, 6 Stelian Burcea, 5 Cristi Petre, 4 Sorin Socol (captain), 3 Bogdan Balan, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Petru Balan.
Replacements: 16 Cezar Popescu, 17 Ion Paulica, 18 Razvan Mavrodin, 19 Valentin Ursache, 20 Vali Calafeteanu, 21 Gabriel Brezoianu, 22 Iulian Dumitras.
Date: Saturday June 17
Venue: Bucharest
Kick-off: 18:00 (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Malcolm Changleng, David Changleng (both Scotland)
Assessor: Doug Kerr (Scotland)