France head coach Fabien Galthié swung the axe on star players Mathieu Jalibert and Damien Penaud as part of his attempt to relaunch his squad's tilt for the 2025 Six Nations title in Italy on Sunday.
Following their last-minute loss to England at Twickenham on 8 February, Galthié dropped winger Penaud and fly-half Jalibert for the third game in this season's competition.
Penaud returned to the international fray from injury on the back of scintillating form for his club side l'Union Bordeaux Bègles. He had scored 15 tries in 12 games to help his team to top spot in the French Top 14.
Jalibert appeared the logical choice following the three-week suspension of Romain Ntamack for a poor tackle on Ben Thomas in the game against Wales.
Penaud scored a try – his 37th to take him one shy of Serge Blanco's record – but was guilty of missing several tackles during the game against England. Jalibert paid the price for poor game management.
Théo Attissobge will replace Penaud and Thomas Ramos will be deployed as play-maker alongside skipper Antoine Dupont.
Léo Barre is scheduled to step in to cover Ramos' redeployment.
"It was disappointing to lose because I had the feeling that we created a lot of chances to score tries," said Galthié after the 26-25 setback against England.
"We simply didn't score enough and we let them believe that they were still in the game."
France travel to the Stadio Olimpico in second place in this season's competition. They are ahead of England on points thanks to a 43-0 annihilation of Wales on the opening day of the tournament while England lost in Dublin to Ireland who will start the weekend's games in Cardiff against Wales.
2025 Six Nations: England edge past France as Wales droop in Italy
Quest
The Irish – seeking to become the first nation to win three titles on the trot since Italy joined the Five Nations in 2000 – inflicted a 15th straight defeat on Wales on Saturday afternoon. They won 27-18 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
France's Jalibert and Penaud return for rugby Six Nations clash with England
For the second game on the trot, England won by a point. Against France, Elliot Daly scored a try in the 78th minute and Fin Smith converted to make it 26-25.
Fast forward a fortnight and Scotland's Finn Russell missed a conversion which enabled England to sneak home 16-15 and end a run of four consecutive defeats against the Scots.
“Our physical intensity needed to go up and it did in the second half,” England coach Steve Borthwick told British broadcaster ITV. "Our bench had a really good impact again. It's the 23-man effort.
“Whilst there were bits in that game that weren't pretty, it's edge-of-the-seat finales.”
