Saint-Andre cuts 'dead weight'
Saint-Andre has made three changes in total to his side. Morgan Parra takes the place of discarded scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Mathieu Bastareaud and Damien Chouly drops to the bench.
Centre Alexandre Dumoulin takes Bastareaud's place in the backline while and South Africa-born flanker Bernard Le Roux is preferred to Chouly in the back row for the crunch match at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Scrumhalf Tillous-Borde misses out on the matchday 23 altogether as South African-born Rory Kockott is named on the bench.
"Against New Zealand we know that if we want to win we need to play on the front foot," Saint-Andre said.
"We know that if we don't play well we are back home on Sunday with our head on the floor."
It will be only the third time Parra has linked up with flyhalf Frederic Michalak, who will retain kicking duties.
"Morgan [Parra] starts, he's a big competitor. We've decided to start him and we're counting on his leadership skills, especially with the forwards," said Saint-Andre, still smarting from last weekend's comprehensive 9-24 defeat by Ireland.
"I expect first we get more ball than last week because the set piece wasn't good.
"We need more ball and to use it and play rugby. Last week, we were 70 percent in defence and only 30 percent in attack."
Kockott, the coach added, was a handy "match-winner" to have on the bench, which he said had not performed as he had wanted against Ireland.
Despite Chouly being on the bench, Yannick Nyanga was also named in the matchday 23 as cover in a more dynamic option.
There is no specialist lock among the eight replacements with hooker Dimitri Szarzewski taking the place of Benjamin Kayser and Vincent Debaty and Nicolas Mas providing extra front row cover. Chouly replaced Alexandre Flanquart in the reserves.
The back three remains the same with Brice Dulin and Fiji-born Noa Nakaitaci on the wings in front of fullback Scott Spedding, a third member of the squad born in South Africa and assigned long-range kicking duties.
No.8 Louis Picamoles partners Le Roux and captain Thierry Dusautoir in the back row. The front five remains unchanged, Yoann Maestri and Pascal Pape in the boiler house with Rabah Slimani, Guilhem Guirado and Eddy Ben Arous forming the front row.
France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud.
Date: Saturday, October 17
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 20.00 (19.00 GMT, 08.00 Sunday, October 18 NZ time, 21.00 French time)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Agence France-Presse
