DUPONT AND NTAMACK AMONG FOUR FRANCE CHANGES FOR SCOTLAND

Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack will form an all-new half-back pairing as two of four French changes for their Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland this weekend.

Les Bleus have lost each of their opening two matches in this year’s Championship and Jacques Brunel has opted for a youth movement to arrest that run – as 22-year-old scrum-half Dupont and 19-year-old Ntamack, son of French great Emile, get the call in place of Morgan Parra, 30, and Camille Lopez, 29.

Dupont in particular impressed coming off the bench against England in Le Crunch, while Toulouse star Thomas Ramos, 23, who made his international debut as a replacement in that clash starts at full-back.

The fourth personnel change sees Wenceslas Lauret – who started against Wales in Round One – return to the starting XV at blindside flanker for Yacouba Camara.

There are also some positional switches in the backs as Gael Fickou moves from the wing to inside centre – where he has shone for Stade Francais this season – at the expense of Geoffrey Doumayrou, while Yoann Huget switches from full-back to the wing.

Scotland haven’t won in Paris since 1999 but have one win from two in this year’s Guinness Six Nations after an opening-round triumph over Italy.

France opened up their 2019 Guinness Six Nations campaign against Wales in Paris, and after leading 16-0 at half-time, their visitors stormed back to triumph 24-19 – the biggest half-time deficit successfully overcome in Championship history.

Les Bleus then suffered their biggest loss to England in over a century in Round Two at Twickenham as a brilliant tactical kicking game allowed the hosts to rack up a 44-8 triumph.

But Brunel is backing an exciting new-look backline to help them achieve a first win of the Championship.

France team to face Scotland at Stade de France on Saturday:
15. Thomas Ramos
14. Damian Penaud
13. Mathieu Bastareaud
12. Gael Fickou
11. Yoann Huget
10. Romain Ntamack
9. Antoine Dupont
1. Jefferson Poirot
2. Guilhem Guirado
3. Demba Bamba
4. Sébastien Vahaamahina
5. Félix Lambey
6. Wenceslas Lauret
7. Arthur Iturria
8. Louis Picamoles

Replacements
16. Camille Chat
17. Etienne Falgoux
18. Dorian Aldegheri
19. Paul Willemse
20. Gregory Alldritt
21. Baptiste Serin
22. Anthony Belleau
23. Maxime Médard

via sixnationsrugby.com