France, deprived of suspended forwards Fabien Pelous and Christian Califano, made four changes yesterday for Sunday's World Cup quarter-final against Argentina in Dublin.
Begles lock Olivier Brouzet replaces Pelous while substitute prop Cedric Soulette takes over from Califano. Toulouse winger Xavier Garbajosa takes over at full back from team-mate Ugo Mola who had a disappointing outing against the Fijians.
Experienced scrum-half Fabien Galthie, called up after Pierre Mignoni dropped out of the tournament with a thigh injury, replaces Stephane Castaignede.
"With Pelous and Califano out we tried to set up the most possible experienced team for the next match," French team manager Jo Maso said. "We are going to Dublin to win and to qualify for the semi-finals.
"In Dublin we're going to enter this World Cup. Eventually we will have the feeling to be part of this unique competition," Maso said.
Pelous is suspended until October 31st for stamping on Fiji captain Greg Smith, but will be entitled to play in the semi-finals if the French qualify.
For the game in Dublin he is replaced by Begles's Olivier Brouzet, back at his best after nursing a sore back in the first part of the tournament.
Califano is out of the World Cup with a ban to December 5th for head-butting on Fiji prop Joeli Veitayaki during last week's Pool C match.
"We lost two key players from our scrum and we didn't want to change the whole set-up," coach Jean-Claude Skrela said. "What is annoying is that our front row was very efficient in the last outings."
Galthie, who was left out when the squad was named in July, replaces first-choice Mignoni who withdrew with a thigh injury last week.
History has repeated itself for the Colomiers player. In 1995 he was recalled after Guy Accoceberry was injured before the quarter-finals against Ireland. Galthie, 30, played in the losing semi-final team against South Africa and in the win over England in the third place play-off.
"Leaving Castaignede on the bench was a painful decision to take. He had a really good performance against the Fijians. But he is lacking too much of experience at such a high level," Maso said.
The fourth change sees Garbajosa take over from Mola. "Xavier had a difficult year but he is now fully fit. We rely very much on his physical strength," Skrela added.
Meanwhile, World champions South Africa have made more handling errors than any other team at the Rugby World Cup '99, according to statistics compiled by the tournament organisers.
But the data is not as damning as it appears because the Springboks enjoyed such monopoly of possession in their Pool A games against Spain and Uruguay that they had dozens more opportunities to spill the ball.
Spain, who returned home without a win or even a try, committed the least errors - just 14 at an average of 4.67 per match - while Uruguay are second best with 20 and an average of 6.67.
According to the RWC '99 figures, South Africa made 57 handling errors in three games at an average of 19. Next was Australia, who made 52 errors in the same number of games at an average of 17.33.
Third on the list was Ireland with 46, averaging 15.33 errors in a match.
France: X Garbajosa; P Bernat-Salles, R Dourthe, E Ntamack, C Dominici; C Lamaison, F Galthie; C Soulette, R Ibanez (capt), F Tournaire, O Brouzet, A Benazzi, M Lievremont, C Juillet, O Magne. Replacements: U Mola, S Glas, S Castaignede, A Costes, D Auradou, P De Villiers, M Dal Maso.
