France name side to face Scotland

France have named their side for the RBS Six Nations opener with Scotland at Stade de France on Saturday, making wholesale changes to the XV that buckled to New Zealand in November.

Halfback Frédéric Michalak is named on the bench, with France coach Bernard Laporte opting to field Yann Delaigue at pivot.

Michalak's 31-year-old usurper will win his 13th cap on merit after impressing for Castres this season, and forms one half of Laporte's 23rd different halfback pairing since he took up the French reins in 1999.

Experienced Clermont-Auvergne scrum-half Pierre Mignoni is the man tasked with partnering Delaigue. He takes the over from Julien Peyrelongue who faced the All Blacks, with Dimitri Yachvili remaining on the bench.

"We need someone to take charge at scrum-half and Pierre has the right credentials to take up the challenge," said Laporte.

Mignoni has not played for France since the 2002 championship when he was used mainly as a replacement for the now retired Fabien Galthie.

Injuries to Imanol Harinordoquy, Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen have lead to a completely new back row formation  - Julien Bonnaire and Sebastien Chabal take up the flanks and Patrick Tabacco wins the No.8 berth.

Explaining his decision to select Tabacco at the base of the scrum ahead of Bonnaire, Laporte said: "Patrick played as a No.8 in the 2003 World Cup so this was a logical choice for us even though we could have also chosen Julien. Taking Patrick is a wise choice because he has a lot of experience."

Further injuries to Yannick Jauzion and Nicolas Brusque mean that Laporte has recalled centre Damien Traille and fullback Pépito Elhorga.

In fact, with Tony Marsh also unavailable and Clement Poitrenaud suffering a dip in form, only two backs survive from the New Zealand game - Aurélien Rougerie and Brian Liebenberg.

Delaigue will be the first-choice goal-kicker, supported by Traille.

France: 15 Pépito Elhorga (Agen), 14 Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont), 13 Brian Liebenberg (Stade Français), 12 Damien Traille (Biarritz), 11 Christophe Dominici (Stade Français), 10 Yann Delaigue (Castres), 9 Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), 8 Patrick Tabacco (Pau), 7 Sébastien Chabal (Sale Sharks), 6 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), 5 Jérôme Thion (Biarritz), 4 Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers (Stade Français), 2 William Servat (Stade Toulousain), 1 Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français).
Replacements: 16 Sébastien Bruno (Sale), 17 Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), 18 Grégory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), 19 Yannick Nyanga (Béziers), 20 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), 21 Frédéric Michalak (Stade Toulousain), 22 Ludovic Valbon (Brive).

Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT)