2011 Six Nations Championship - France v Scotland
Venue: Stade de France Date: Saturday, 5 February Kick-off: 1700 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One from 1635 (post-match forum on Red Button from 1900-1930); Listen on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; Live text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

Mermoz's only previous Six Nations game was against Scotland in 2009

France will start the defence of their Six Nations crown with two-thirds of the side that clinched the Grand Slam last year but without Yannick Jauzion.

The celebrated centre makes way for Perpignan's rising star Maxime Mermoz in a much-changed three-quarter line.

Yoann Huget, who made his debut in the autumn, starts at right wing, Aurelien Rougerie at centre, Damien Traille at full-back, Maxime Medard at left wing.

But the pack and the half-backs are the same units that sealed the 2010 Slam.

Imanol Harinordoquy is preferred at number eight to Sebastien Chabal, who is on the bench, with captain Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire making up the back row, Fulgence Ouedraogo missing out.

Julien Pierre gets the nod at lock ahead of Jerome Thion, who is also among the replacements, while the formidable front row on which France's success was based last year remains intact.

Scrum-half Morgan Parra and fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc continue their association but the rest of the backline has changed.

Traille, who has won the majority of his 77 caps at centre, started Les Bleus' last outing - a crushing 59-16 home defeat by Australia - at fly-half.

But he takes over from Perpignan's Jerome Porical at full-back, with Clement Poitrenaud, who starred in last year's Six Nations clean sweep, on the bench.

606: DEBATE Rougerie has been excellent at 13 for ASM and with the pace of Mermoz at 12 this is a centre pairing that can lacerate defences. dashingpanache

The powerful Rougerie, who has featured mostly at right wing in his 59 Tests, starts at outside centre, with another of last year's stars, Mathieu Bastareaud, out of favour.

Mermoz, 24, made his Test debut in 2008 but a series of untimely injuries have meant he has collected only seven caps so far, with just one Six Nations appearance as a replacement against Scotland two years ago.

Medard, who can also play full-back, comes in on the left wing at the expense of Alexis Palisson.

Head coach Marc Lievremont has come under pressure after three heavy defeats from France's last five Tests, with summer tour drubbings in Argentina and South Africa as well as the Wallabies rout.

But the defending champions have not lost to Scotland in Paris since 1999, the last year of the Five Nations, and have won the last four meetings between the sides.

France team: Damien Traille (Biarritz); Yoann Huget (Bayonne), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Thierry Dusautoir (captain, Toulouse), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Sebastien Chabal (Racing Metro), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), David Skrela (Toulouse), Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse).

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