Chabal helped France to victory over Wales

Sebastien Chabal will return to France's back row for Sunday's Six Nations match against England.

The 31-year-old Sale Sharks forward has been named as flanker for the Twickenham game having played in the second row for most of the season.

Coach Marc Lievremont has brought in Lionel Faure and Jerome Thion to boost his pack and Francois Trinh-Duc starts at fly-half in place of Benoit Baby.

Mathieu Bastareaud keeps his place at centre alongside Yannick Jauzion.

Chabal started at lock against Ireland and Wales, and played in the second row during the November Tests and for Sale over the past four months.

It will be the first time Chabal has been picked at flanker under Lievremont. Although selected in the number seven shirt, he is likely to be at blind-side, with Thierry Dusautoir at open-side.

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"He is a versatile player," Lievremont said of Chabal.

"He can play in both departments with just as much success. And he will be up against players he knows well."

Prop Faure replaces Fabien Barcella, who will be Les Bleus' 23rd man on Sunday, while Thion will come in at lock as a result of Chabal's repositioning.

Florian Fritz is back after serving a three-week suspension for punching but will start on the bench alongside the returning Damien Traille, who will act as cover for the fly-half and full-back positions.

France, who have lost their last two games against England, are third in the Six Nations table and face Italy in their final match of the championship on 21 March.

France team to face England at Twickenham on 15 March:

Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin); Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvain Marconnet (both Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz).

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