France recall for Fritz
Florian Fritz recalled by France to 23-man squad for England match
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Wednesday, 04, Mar 2009 03:58
France have made four changes to their 23-man squad ahead of next weekend's Six Nations match against England at Twickenham, including a recall for Florian Fritz.
The centre has been banned for the last three weeks after being found guilty of punching during the opening-day defeat to Ireland at Croke Park early last month.
However, he is one of four names to be brought into the squad as head coach Marc Lievremont continues to tinker with his lineup - despite last week's victory over defending grand slam champions Wales in Paris.
Damien Traille, Jerome Thion and Julien Bonnaire all return to the French party with Fritz, with Clement Poitrenaud, Benoit Baby, Fulgence Ouedraogo and Louis Picamoles all dropping out.
This leaves Francois Trinh-Duc as the only specialist fly-half after injuries to Baby and Lionel Beauxis, although Traille - a centre by trade - has played at stand-off in the past.
Full France squad to face England at Twickenham on March 15th:
Backs
Maxime Medard (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse), Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres).
Forwards
Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Dimitri Szarzewski (Biarritz), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), Lionel Faure (Sale), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Lionel Nallet (Castres, captain), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).