France v Scotland: teams

South Africa born flanker Antoine Claassen will make his first start for as Philippe Saint-Andre makes three changes to face Scotland on Saturday.
The Castres flanker earned his first two caps off the bench against and but this time he starts at blindside for Toulouse Yannick Nyanga who drops to the bench.
There will also be a first start for Perpignan giant Sebastien Vahaamahina who comes in at lock for Christophe Samson who is also named among the replacements.
The 6ft7, 18st10 21-year-old made his debut from the bench for Les Bleus in the victory against Australia in November and was called back into the squad against Ireland for his second cap.
There is one more change in the starting line-up with powerhouse Mathieu Bastareaud coming back in the midfield with Florian Fritz making way although he is bracketed on the bench alongside Toulouse teammate Gael Fickou.
After a disappointing campaign, which they started as favourites, France only goal will be to avoid their first wooden spoon since 1999 by beating Scotland and hoping Ireland can overcome in Rome earlier on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist will win his first cap for Scotland for the occasion after being at lock for the injured Richie Gray.
Perpignan-based Alasdair Strokosch is the only other change to the side that lost 28-18 to Wales last time out and will bring his experience in the back row as he’s preferred to Rob Harley to start at blindside.
Strokosch had started the championship in the No.6 jersey but injury in the opening match against England at Twickenham sidelined him from Scotland’s next three outings.
Scotland travel to Paris aiming to claim a third success in the Six Nations for the first time since the 2006 campaign where they beat France, England and Italy.
Scotland interim head coach Scott Johnson said: “We have made some progress in this championship and it would be ideal to cement that by a winning performance in Paris. But the needle is stuck in the same groove as far as my view on Saturday’s Test.
“We’ve got to get our basics right. We’ve got to win the contact area, be disciplined in our approach, and get some front-foot ball for our backs. We also want to end the championship on a high.
“I’ve been impressed with Gilco. I’ve spoken of form and future and he fits the bill in the latter category but he’s also keen as mustard and we want to look at him in the company of a very good French side.
“We looked at every position in detail after last weekend and we reckoned that Strokosch’s experience gave him the nod in the back-row.
“We’re not reading much at all into where France are in the table. France are wounded right now and we expect them to come out all guns blazing on Saturday.
“But the target for us is to concentrate on our game and aim to be as high up the table as possible come full-time in Paris.”
France: Yoann Huget (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (), Wesley Fofana (), Maxime Médard (Toulouse); Frederic Michalak (Toulon), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Benjamin Kayser (Clermont), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Sebastien Vahaamahina (Perpignan); Yoann Maestri (Toulouse); Antoine Claassen (Castres), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, Capt.), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse).
Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Vincent Debaty (Clermont), Luc Ducalcon (Racing Metro), Christophe Samson (Castres), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse), Maxime Machenaud (Racing Metro), Francois Trinh-Duc (), Florian Fritz (Toulouse)/Gael Fickou (Toulouse).
Scotland: Stuart Hogg (); Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby); Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby); Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Euan Murray ( Warriors); Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester); Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Kelly Brown (, Capt.), Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier).
Replacements: Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Max Evans (Castres).

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