Stade de France, Paris, Sunday November 23, 7am (AEDT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa). Touch judges: Chris White (England) , David Changleng (Scotland). Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy). Assessor: D Kerr (Scotland).
TV coverage: Channel 10 from 7am, FoxSports 3 from 7am.
After workmanlike wins over Argentina and the Pacific Islanders, France face Australia here on Saturday in a match that will define the success of their autumn internationals and provide the clearest indication of their form prior to the 2009 Six Nations.
Last weekend's 42-17 victory over the Islanders followed a narrow 12-6 win against Argentina, but coach Marc Lievremont knows the Wallabies will be an altogether different proposition.
"Australia are very strong, very solid and very brave," he said. "They don't have many weaknesses and don't give points away. They are very hard to move around."
Lievremont has been forced to enlist Castres scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde as a replacement for first-choice number nine Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who is still recovering from a high tackle by the Islanders' Napolioni Nalaga.
The French pack has also been tweaked in recognition of the physical challenge posed by the Australian forwards purring after their role in the 28-14 win against England at Twickenham.
Sale hardman Sebastien Chabal replaces Toulouse's Romain Millo-Chluski in the second row.
"The public's support for Sebastien will certainly be important at the beginning of the match," said French forwards coach Didier Retiere. "Everyone is looking forward to his return."
Australia prop Al Baxter recognises Chabal's unique role in the French set-up and says the tourists must get to grips with him quickly if they are to dampen the hopes of the Stade de France crowd.
"He's obviously a player that they draw a lot of strength from, like Richie McCaw for the All Blacks or Schalk Burger for the Springboks," said Baxter.
"He's the kind of player who really is a leader for the side. But if you fully concentrate on Sebastien Chabal you forget about a lot of the other fine players they have in their team."
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has made three changes to the XV that started at Twickenham, with blindside flanker Dean Mumm, 23-year-old Brumbies prop Ben Alexander and number eight Wycliff Palu drafted into the pack in place of Mark Chisholm, Richard Brown and Benn Robinson.
For all the focus on the forwards, though, Wallabies wing Drew Mitchell feels France's biggest threat is the attacking danger they present across the park.
"They're a lot more flamboyant (than England) and they have quite a lot of variety in their attack", he said.
"So we have to be on our toes with not only the physical game, but also the little kicks and the little changes of direction in play and all that sort of thing."
Australia will be led by skipper Stirling Mortlock, who in winning his 75th Test cap will draw level with Jason Little as the 10th most-capped player in the Wallabies' history.
The last meeting between the sides saw Australia romp to a record 40-10 victory in Brisbane in July, but against a notably weakened French side.
France are unlikely to roll over quite so easily on home soil, where they are unbeaten against Australia in three meetings since 2000.
But with no fixtures to fulfil between now and their Six Nations opener in Ireland on February 7, defeat for France would leave them with plenty of time to ponder their shortcomings.
France:
Maxime Medard; Julien Malzieu, Benoit Baby, Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans, David Skrela, Sebastien Tillous-Borde; Imanol Harinordoquy, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir; Lionel Nallet (capt), Sebastien Chabal; Nicolas Mas, Dimitri Szarzewski, Lionel Faure. Res: Benjamin Kayser, Benoit Lecouls, Romain Millo-Chluski, Louis Picamoles, Julien Tomas, Damien Traille, Alexis Palisson
Australia: Adam Ashley-Cooper; Peter Hynes, Ryan Cross, Stirling Mortlock (capt), Drew Mitchell; Matt Giteau, Luke Burgess; Wycliff Palu, George Smith, Dean Mumm; Nathan Sharpe, Hugh McMeniman; Al Baxter, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander. Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Mark Chisholm, David Pocock, Sam Cordingley, Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane.
Past five encounters:
Australia 40 France 10, Brisbane, 2008
Australia 34 France 13, Sydney, 2008
France 26 Australia 16, Marseille, 2005
Australia 37 France 31, Brisbane, 2005
France 27 Australia 14, Paris, 2004
AFP
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