Claassen on French bench

South African loose forward Antoine Claassen has been named among the substitutes for France's match against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Claassen's last apperance for Les Bleus came as a replacement against the All Blacks in November last year.

France coach Philippe Saint-André has made seven changes to his starting XV for the match, with four more on the bench.

Three of the changes are due to injury, with Wesley Fofana, Yannick Nyanga and Dmitri Szarzewski all dropping out of the team and replaced by Maxime Mermoz, Sébastian Vahaamahina and Brice Mach respectively.

Louis Picamoles has been dropped for disrespecting the referee during France's heavy loss to Wales two weeks ago, with Damien Chouly coming in at No 8.

Wenceslas Lauret, Jean-Marc Doussain and Hugo Bonneval have all been dropped. Doussain keeps his place on the bench with the other two travelling as the 24th and 25th men respectively.

Those changes mean Alexandre Lapandry comes in at openside flank, with Maxime Machenaud getting the start at scrumhalf and Maxime Médard, a try scorer against Scotland in Paris last year, coming back on the wing.

Mach's promotion means Guilhem Guirado comes on to the bench, as does Rabah Slimani following his suspension after being sent off against Italy. There are also places among the replacements for Alexandre Flanquart and Claassen.

France – 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Sébastian Vahaamahina, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Brice Mach, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Subs: 18 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Antoine Claassen, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Remi Tálès, 23 Gaël Fickou.

Photo: Marty Melville/AFP Photo

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