France name six uncapped players

MARCOUSSIS, France -- New French coach Marc Lievremont has included six uncapped players in his first squad to play Scotland in the opening Six Nations game in Edinburgh on February 3.

He has named props Julien Brugnault of Dax and Lionel Faure of Sale together with Albi lock Arnaud Mela, Bourgoin scrum-half Morgan Parra, Montpellier fly-half Frangois Trinh-Duc and Clermont center Julien Malzieu.

"In some ways it's a new beginning," said Lievremont. "We took a good look around and we saw players who deserved to be involved but who had been overlooked in the recent times."

Lievremont was a surprise selection for the post when Bernard Laporte moved on the World Cup.

Since then several French stalwarts, such as Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Christophe Dominici and Serge Betsen have quit international rugby.

Despite the World Cup disappointment, Lievremont's 22-strong squad has 11 players who were on duty for Laporte and several others such as William Servat, Elvis Vermeulen and Florian Fritz who return to international duty.

The new coach will be without Frederic Michalak who has taken a year off from international duty to play Super-14 rugby in South Africa.

Lievremont has left out Sale strongman Sebastien Chabal, saying: "He's a charming chap, but for us Vermeulen is the best we have at this position."

Lievremont had already announced that Castres lock Lionel Nallet would take over the captaincy from the retired Ibanez.

France squad:

Forwards: Julien Brugnault (Dax), Lionel Faure (Sale/ENG), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Frangais), William Servat (Toulouse), Loic Jacquet (Clermont), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Arnaud Mela (Albi), Elvis Vermeulen (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier)

Backs: Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), David Skrela (Stade Frangais), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse), Julien Malzieu (Clermont), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont) E-mail to a friend