France trial Traille at fly-half

Harinordoquy returns to the XV

France coach Bernard Laporte has named his side for Saturday's clash with South Africa in Cape Town, handing Biarritz star Damien Traille his first Test start at fly-half after Thomas Castaignède was found wanting at pivot during the tourists' 62-14 victory over Romania in Bucharest last weekend.

Traille is pretty much Laporte's last resort as the search for a back-up to Frédéric Michalak continues.

Both Benjamin Boyet of Bourgoin and Nicolas Laharrague of Perpignan are injured, and Castaignède did not impress in the role last weekend.

"We need to find a back-up to Michalak. We have two other fly-halves injured who could not tour," said team manager Jo Maso.

"We looked at Thomas Castaignède, and now we are looking at different options.

"Traille is a strong runner, a kicker, a passer, he has everything. He is a lot like Henry Honiball. If he turns out to be as good, we will be very happy."

Castaignède fills the role of utility back on the bench, with Perpignan's fullback Julien Laharrague returning to the national fold for the first time since being injured in the match against Tonga in November.

"We talked about whether to play Thomas or Julien at fullback, but Julien is just back from injury, and is very fresh, he has not played many games this season, but he is getting back to his level," said Laporte.

Having Castaignède covering all bases on the bench also affords Laporte the chance to pull a frequent French club trick of having a bench full of forwards. But as he explained, having five forwards as back-up is especially important for this game.

"We have five forwards on the bench and only two backs because we know it is going to be a hard game and a physical game," said Laporte.

"We also know that Thomas Castaignède can cover all positions in the backs.

"We know the Springboks' game, they keep it very tight to the forwards, and they have centres who are able to break the line. What we must do is put pressure on and try to steal their ball.

"We know they will be close to the ball and very efficient on the ground. We thought of asking Jake White if we could play with nine forwards because we know we are going to be lighter!

"In the back row, we wanted to see Dusautoir at the highest level, and we wanted to give both Harinordoquy and Betsen, who have been injured for a while, some game-time with the team and see if they are back to their level.

"Both have worked hard and I am sure they will show us what they can do.

"We have left behind Olivier Magne and Yannick Nyanga, we have Rémy Martin and Julien Bonnaire on the bench as well, so there is a good competition for places in that position, which is good for France."

The team seems built around club units, with an all Stade Français front row, an all Biarritz half-back pairing and back row, and a predominantly Toulouse back-line.

"It is just a coincidence. We have not worked it around that. All we can say is that we have the best players in France," explained Laporte.

"The philosophy of this tour is to see a maximum of players on the field, the fact that they are all units from three clubs is a pure coincidence."

South Africa are expected to present as physical a challenge as possible on Saturday, in what is forecast to be some pretty miserable weather in Cape Town.

The injury to Schalk Burger will have made France's task a mite easier, but Laporte's thoughts were first and foremost with the injured flank.

"When you play rugby, you do not want a player from the other team to be injured. It is not the philosophy of sport," he said.

"I am sorry for him, from what I hear the injury is very serious. We are all very disappointed about the injury and we wish him a good recovery.

"But even without Burger, South Africa will have another good flanker to replace him."

Finally, Pieter de Villiers is expected to play in the Test, after having left the squad earlier in the week to grieve with his family over the death of his brother.

"I spoke with Pieter yesterday [Tuesday]," said Maso. "He will be at training today.

"I hope he will play on Saturday, because playing in this country is very important to him, it will be the first time he has played for France here."

France: 15 Julien Laharrague (Perpignan), 14 Vincent Clerc (Stade Toulousain), 13 Florian Fritz (Stade Toulousain), 12 Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), 11 Cédric Heymans (Stade Toulousain), 10 Damien Traille (Biarritz), 9 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), 8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), 7 Thierry Dusautoir (Biarritz), 6 Serge Betsen (Biarritz), 5 Jerôme Thion (Biarritz), 4 Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers (Stade Français), 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), 1 Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français).
Replacements: 16 Raphaël Ibañez (Wasps, England), 17 Vincent Debaty (Perpignan), 18 Lionel Nallet (Castres), 19 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), 20 Rémy Martin (Stade Français), 21 Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), 22 Thomas Castaignède (Saracens, England).

Date: Saturday, June 24
Kick-off: 15:00 (13:00 GMT)
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury, Rob Debney (both England)
Television match official: Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)