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France forward Sebastien Chabal will start for the first time in three matches after coach Marc Lievremont named him in the side to face Australia at the Stade de France.

The Sale Sharks lock, who has 41 caps, was on the bench when France beat Argentina 12-6 two weeks ago and the Pacific Islanders 42-17 last weekend. He takes over from Romain Millo-Chluski.

"Romain played two full games and performed very well but Sebastien did well when he came on against the Pumas and the Islanders," coach Marc Lievremont said. "His scrummaging has improved a lot and we think he will bring more freshness.

Omitted during the last Six Nations championship by the new France coach who succeeded Bernard Laporte after the 2007 World Cup, Chabal was recalled for the tour of Australia in June.

He started the two tests, which were lost 40-10 and 34-13 by a France team shorn of all the players whose clubs had qualified for the semi-finals of the French championship.

The other question mark hanging over the selection for Saturday's game was the front row, with loosehead prop Lionel Faure, Chabal's team mate with the Sale Sharks, vying with Fabien Barcella and getting the nod.

"We favoured the experience of Lionel to counter an Australian scrum which appeared tricky to play [against] and more intelligent than powerful against England," Lievremont said referring to Australia's 28-14 win at Twickenham last Saturday.

In the only other change to the team who defeated the Islanders, scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde replaces Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who was knocked out by a high tackle from Napolioni Nalaga last Saturday.

Team: 15-Maxime Medard, 14-Julien Malzieu, 13-Yannick Jauzion, 12-Benoit Baby, 11-Cedric Heymans, 10-David Skrela, 9-Sebastien-Tillous-Borde, 1-Lionel Faure, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 3-Nicolas Mas, 4-Sebastien Chabal, 5-Lionel Nallet (captain), 6-Thierry Dusautoir, 7-Fulgence Ouedraogo, 8-Imanol Harnordoquy

Replacements: 16-Benjamin Kayser, 17-Benoit Lecouls, 18-Romain Millo-Chluski, 19-Louis Picamoles, 20-Julien Tomas, 21-Damien Traille, 22-Alexis Palisson

Sporting Life / Eurosport