New France coach Marc Lievremont has dropped Sebastien Chabal and made sweeping changes to his squad for their Six Nations opener with Scotland.

Lievremont, who took over from Bernard Laporte following France's semi-final exit at last year's World Cup, has added six new caps to hsi first match squad.

Named in the 22 are backs Morgan Parra, Francois Trin-Dhuc and Julien Malzieu, plus forwards Julien Brugnault, Lionel Faure and Arnaud Mela.

"We wanted coherence with (the next World Cup in) 2011 in mind and we also wanted a team that could be competitive at this year's Six Nations," Lievremont said.

"In some ways it's a new beginning. We took a good look around and we saw players who deserved to be involved but who had been somewhat overlooked in the recent times."

The powerful Chabal (pictured), a flanker used at lock by Laporte, rose to fame during the World Cup on home soil but the burly player, nicknamed Seabass by Sale fans, failed to convince Lievremont.

"Elvis Vermeulen is actually the best in that position," assistant coach Emile Ntamack said of the decision to drop Chabal.

"We could have chosen Chabal because of his versatility but we went for Elvis because we believe he's better. There's no plot against Chabal."

Other World Cup back rowers not to make the cut are Yannick Nyanga, Imanol Harinordoquy and Remy Martin.

Also dropped are Chabal's Sale team-mate and hooker Sebastien Bruno along with lock Jerome Thion, full-back Clement Poitrenaud, scrum-half Pierre Mignoni and centre David Marty.

The Six Nations will mark a new era for France after stalwarts such as Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Christophe Dominici and Serge Betsen quit international rugby in the wake of the World Cup.

Among the players selected by Lievremont, only 11 featured in France's World Cup squad. The new coach recalled several players overlooked by Laporte, notably hooker William Servat and centre Florian Fritz.

First-choice centre Yannick Jauzion is also missing due to a broken hand suffered in Toulouse's Heineken Cup clash with Leicester last month.

Castres lock Lionel Nallet skippers the side for the game at Murrayfield on February 3.

Laporte, now junior minister for sport, was criticised during the World Cup campaign for relying on dull tactics based on defending and kicking rather than France's trademark flair.

Forwards: Julien Brugnaut (Dax), Lionel Faure (Sale Sharks), Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat (both Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Loic Jacquet (Clermont-Auvergne), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Arnaud Mela (Albi), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Elvis Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne).

Backs: Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), David Skrela (Stade Francais), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse), Julien Malzieu, Aurelien Rougerie (both Clermont-Auvergne).

Terence O'Rorke and / Reuters