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 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. 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."
"Playing at home will lift them," said Ireland forward Jack Conan. "I think that they’ll be galvanised by a new coach coming in and everything that’s gone on in he last few weeks.
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