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France coach Marc Lievremont has made four changes to the starting side that were crushed 34-10 by England for their Six Nations game against Italy on Saturday in Rome.

Fullback Damien Traille, centre Florian Fritz, flanker Julien Bonnaire and tighthead prop Fabien Barcella are promoted to the starting XV for the Rome encounter.

Wing Julien Malzieu, centre Mathieu Bastareaud and lock Jerome Thion are dropped to the bench. Prop Lionel Faure drops out altogether.

In two positional changes, Sebastien Chabal switches from backrow to second row and Maxime Medard from fullback to wing.

"If we had thrown out all the players who failed at Twickenham, you would count the survivors on the fingers of one hand," Lievremont said.

"We are giving to this squad, starters and replacements, a rare chance of avenging the Twickenham insult even if a win in Rome will not be enough to stomach such a slap in the face, such a humiliation."

Among the players Lievremont kept faith with are young halfbacks Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc.

As a result, Frederic Michalak, recalled to the squad for the first time since the 2007 World Cup after replacement scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde withdrew through injury, will be on the bench.

"We are happy to have Fred back in the squad even if we recalled him because Tillous-Borde, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Dimitri Yachvili were injured and we never considered handing him a start," Lievremont said.

Asked about his decision to keep Chabal in the starting side, the French coach answered: "I heard and read a lot of harsh criticism against him but I have to plead guilty too because I'm the man who decided to switch him to flanker against England.

"It was a failure but it's not because he played at flanker that we lost by 30 points to England and he is still an interesting prospect in the second row," he added.

"The Twickenham game was a total failure, collective and individual. It was a no-game played by a no-team. I can't consider that we could be routed like that in Rome. It would be terrible, it's unimaginable."

The defeat by England ruined France's outside hopes of winning the championship and the title will be decided in Cardiff on Saturday when Wales need to beat Ireland by 13 points to retain it.

Team: 15-Damien Traille, 14-Maxime Medard, 13-Florian Fritz, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Cedric Heymans, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra, 8-Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Thierry Dusautoir, 5-Sebastien Chabal, 4-Lionel Nallet (captain), 3-Sylvain Marconnet, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 1-Fabien Barcella.

Replacements: 16-William Servat, 17-Thomas Domingo, 18-Jerome Thion, 19-Louis Picamoles, 20-Frederic Michalak, 21-Mathieu Bastareaud, 22-Julien Malzieu.

Reuters