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France to unleash teen sensation against Ireland
By Peter Thompson
Teenage fly-half Matthieu Jalibert and Geoffrey Palis will make their France debuts in the Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday.
Bordeaux Begles' Jalibert will continue his rapid rise at Stade de France, starting alongside Maxime Machenaud in Jacques Brunel's first match in charge of Les Bleus.
Palis also makes his international bow at full-back in Paris, while Adrien Pelissie, Dany Priso, Cedate Gomes Sa and Marco Tauleigne could make their debuts off the bench.
Captain Guilhem Guirado will be joined by props Jefferson Poirot and Rabah Slimani in an experienced front row on the first day of the tournament.
Henry Chavancy and Remi Lamerat will form the centre pairing, while Racing 92 duo Virimi Vakatawa and Teddy Thomas get the nod on the wings.
France XV: Geoffrey Palis, Teddy Thomas, Remi Lamerat, Henry Chavancy, Virimi Vakatawa, Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Machenaud; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Rabah Slimani, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Arthur Iturria, Wenceslas Lauret, Yacouba Camara, Kevin Gourdon.
Replacements: Adrien Pelissie, Dany Priso, Cedate Gomes Sa, Paul Gabrillagues, Marco Tauleigne, Antoine Dupont, Anthony Belleau, Benjamin Fall.
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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