Traille on bench for France
Veteran back Damien Traille was on Friday included among the France replacements named by coach Marc Lievremont for this weekend’s World Cup Final against New Zealand.
Lievremont had, earlier this week, named an unchanged starting XV from the one that beat Wales 9-8 in the semifinal, but decided to give himself some extra time regarding his bench options.
In the end he made just one switch among the replacements, including the 32-year-old Traille, who made the last of his 85 Test appearances in last month’s 17-37 pool defeat by the All Blacks, at the expense of wing Cedric Heymans.
Lievremont’s decision means uncapped Toulouse scrumhalf Jean Marc Doussain stays on the bench for Sunday’s showpiece match at Eden Park, where New Zealand beat France in the inaugural 1987 World Cup Final, with specialist flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc the other replacement back.
Forward reinforcement again comes from front-rowers Dimitri Szarzewski and Fabien Barcella, with Julien Pierre shadowing the locks.
Montpellier flank Fulgence Ouedraogo will provide back row cover.
France: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Morgan Parra, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Francois Trinh-Duc, 21 Jean Marc Doussain, 22 Damien Traille.
Date: Sunday, October 23
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 21.00 (08.00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Nigel Owens (Wales)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
