France rugby team to play Ireland

Full-back Clement Poitrenaud and flanker Julien Bonnaire have been drafted into the French side to play Ireland in the Six Nations tournament at the Stade de France on Sunday. They are the only two changes made by coach Philippe Saint-Andre to the side that beat Scotland 23-17 at Murrayfield last Sunday. The 29-year-old Poitrenaud comes in for his Toulouse teammate Maxime Medard who twisted a knee shortly after scoring what proved to be the winning try against the Scots. It will be the 29-year-old's 45th cap and his first start for France since the Six Nations loss to England last year after which he failed to make the French squad for the World Cup in New Zealand. The 33-year-old Bonnaire returns to the starting XV in place of Louis Picamoles who pays the price for the problems the French had in the line-outs at Edinburgh. Bonnaire comes in for his 73rd cap at flanker with Imanol Harinordoquy moving over to the No.8 slot in the back row "We wanted more height in the lineout and to have good runners at the start of the match with more experience and then to have power and punch in reserve after that," said Saint-Andre. "Otherwise we wanted to show confidence in the group we have. I have been a player and to miss a pass, a tackle, that can happen, but our team spirit (in Scotland) was irreprochable coming back from 10-0 down." Saint-Andre resisted the temptation of tinkering with his half-back pairing of Francois Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra who have been in harness since the start of the tournament with some saying that he should bring in Lionel Beauxis at fly-half. Known for his superb tactical kicking Beauxis was seen as an answer to the boots of Irish fly-halves Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O'Gara. "We want to keep the ball, to play our game and we have the players to do this successfully," he added. The match against the Irish was originally scheduled for February 11, but was called off by the referee minutes before the kick-off due to the freezing night-time conditions and the dangerous state of the playing surface. France have won both their games so far in this year's tournament, against Italy and Scotland, while Ireland have lost to Wales and defeated Italy. The France team announced on Wednesday to play Ireland in the Six Nations tournament at the Stade de France on Sunday (kick-off 1500 GMT):- Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Julien Malzieu (Clermont); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt); Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Pascal Papé (Stade Français); Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Dimitry Szarzewski (Stade Français), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse) Replacements William Servat (Toulouse), Vincent Debaty (Clermont), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Métro), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Julien Dupuy (Stade Français), Lionel Beauxis (Toulouse), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan)