 Pelous had been forced to serve a nine-week ban |
French captain Fabien Pelous is reinstated to the team for the opening Six Nations match against Scotland on Sunday after serving a nine-week ban. Fellow veteran Christophe Dominici, 33, also returns after being out since October with a knee injury.
Winger Dominici replaces the injured Aurelien Rougerie, while Biarritz full-back Nicolas Brusque stands in for Thomas Castaignede.
Frederick Michalak is preferred to Benjamin Boyet at fly-half.
The influential Michalak is chosen despite suffering from a groin injury.
"Frederic has been in pain for a month but he has played very good games with Toulouse in the Heineken Cup and the French championship and we are confident he will be at his best," said team manager Jo Maso.
The 31-year-old Pelous missed games against Canada, Tonga and South Africa after elbowing Australia's Brendan Cannon during France's 26-16 win in November.
France: Nicolas Brusque (Biarritz); Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse); Frederick Michalak (Toulouse), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse); Remy Martin (Stade Francais), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse); Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Fabien Pelous (Toulouse capt); Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais)
Replacements: Sebastien Bruno (Sale), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Lionel Nallet (Castres), Thomas Lievremont (Biarritz), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Benjamin Boyet (Bourgoin), Ludovic Valbon (Brive)
MMIX
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