Wales v France preview

Mike Phillips has been dropped by Wales ahead of Friday’s clash against France in the third round of the Six Nations.
He is replaced by Ospreys‘ Rhys Webb in a starting XV that shows three changes from the one that lost heavily in Ireland two weeks ago.
France are still unbeaten in this campaign having beaten England and Italy in the first two rounds while Wales must win if they want to have any hopes of securing their third title in three years following their poor display in Ireland.
Injury crisis in the midfield has pushed Warren Gatland to shift George North to outside centre with Liam Williams coming in on the left wing.
Up front, Perpignan Luke Charteris gets the nod at lock alongside Alun-Wyn Jones.
“He (Phillips) got a bit confrontational with Conor Murray and this is an opportunity for him to have a think about that,” said Gatland.
“It’s also important to give somebody else the chance to stake a claim in that position. Mike always responds well to a challenge. One of his attributes is his competitiveness and that’s probably a weakness for him too.
“We don’t want Rhys Webb to be the same as Mike Phillips. I want him to do what he’s good at. He’s got a good kicking game and he’s good at bringing in runners around the fringes. I thought Rhys played excellently for the Ospreys at the weekend and he comes in and gives us a different dimension and it’s a great opportunity for him.”
“Friday is a massive game for us. As a squad we have a huge amount of experience in this tournament and we will be calling on that this weekend. We see the game as a huge opportunity for us to put things right.
“Luke has been working really hard over the past couple of weeks and it’s a big boost for us that he is back. George moves into the midfield and he brings great footwork to the role and we were impressed when he went there against Australia in the autumn. His partnership with Jamie will be important as we look to stop the directness of France and Mathieu Bastareaud.”
Meanwhile, France head coach Philippe Saint-Andre has made one change to his starting XV with Wanceslas Lauret starting at openside.
The Racing Metro flanker takes over from his club teammate Bernard Le Roux who suffered a concussion against Italy in the last round.
There are three changes on the replacement bench though with Castres hooker Brice Mach likely to make his Test debut at the Millennium.
The French scrum could be in trouble in the second half however with only Nicolas Mas as a specialist tighthead. Indeed, Saint-Andre has decided to call on Clermont’s Vincent Debaty to replace Rabah Slimani who is suspended after his red card against Italy.
Finally, Top14 winning fly-half Remi Tales has recovered from his arm injury and takes the place of Francois Trinh-Duc as Jules Plisson’s cover.
Saint-Andre said: “Vincent played all of the 2012 Autumn Tests at tighthead. He grew up as a tighthead. Honestly, I can tell you that after Tuesday’s scrum session he showed a lot of good things. We trust him and his quality as an impact player.
“We know Wales’ strength. They like to run hard in the fly-half channel with their powerful centres. That’s why we decided to have another fly-half on the bench to back up Jules Plisson because it’s going to hurt. The intensity on Friday will be unusually high. We were blamed for using the driving maul too much last year but we won’t win in Cardiff doing that for 80 minutes.
“With New Zealand, Wales are the most attacking side from lineouts. They like to keep the ball with long phases so we needed a genuine openside to slow them down. Thierry Dusautoir is injured so having Wanceslas back is a logic choice for us.”
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, George North, Jamie Roberts, Liam Williams; Rhys Priestland, Rhys Webb; Gethin Jenkins, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones; Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones; Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (Capt.), Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Rhodri Jones, Jake Ball, Justin Tipuric, Mike Phillips, Dan Biggar, James Hook.
France: Brice Dulin; Yoann Huget, Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fofana, Hugo Bonneval; Jules Plisson, Jean-Marc Doussain; Thomas Domingo, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas; Pascal Papé (Capt.), Yoann Maestri; Yannick Nyanga, Wanceslas Lauret, Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: Brice Mach, Yannick Forestier, Vincent Debaty, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Damien Chouly, Maxime Machenaud, Remi Tales, Gael Fickou.