Picamoles earns 50th Test cap

Coach Philippe Saint-André has made two changes and one positional switch to France's starting lineup for Sunday's pool decider against Ireland in Cardiff.

Louis Picamoles returns to the run-on XV for his 50th Test cap, replacing Bernard le Roux in the back row, but Picamoles will play eighthman with Damien Chouly moving from No 8 to openside flanker.

In the backline, wing Noa Nakaitaci, who started in France's first two pool games but missed the third against Canada, comes in on the right wing ahead of Remy Grosso.

Meanwhile, Thierry Dusautoir will captain France for the 55th time, joining John Eales from Australia in seventh place on the all-time captains list.

Ten of France's run-on XV also started the Six Nations match against Ireland in February, which Les Bleus lost 18-11 in Dublin. 

France – 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.
Subs: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Bernard le Roux, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Alexandre Dumoulin.

Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

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