France make nine changes to the side that beat Ireland 25-3 for their final World Cup group clash against Georgia on Sunday in Marseille.

France still need to win the match to ensure they reach the quarter finals and have named a strong side to face a Georgia team that has troubled both Argentina and Ireland before picking up their first World Cup win against Namibia.

"We are sticking to our squad rotation policy," team manager Jo Maso said. "We also took into account the need to rest some players and to keep all the guys on their toes."

Sale hooker Sebastien Bruno (pictured), the only player not to have been named once since the beginning of the tournament, is handed his first start in place of the rested Rafael Ibanez.

"Sebastien played fair despite his disappointment," coach Bernard Laporte said. "He is hungry and we had to give him a chance."

Lionel Beauxis, who captained the French side that won last year's Under 21 World Cup, was used as a substitute against both Namibia and Ireland and has been named at flyhalf ahead of Frederic Michalak.

Scrumhalf Pierre Mignoni and wing Christophe Dominici, out of favour since the opening defeat to Argentina, have been called back to reclaim their places in the starting XV in place of Cedric Heymans and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

"Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde performed well against Namibia and Ireland and we felt he deserved a rest," Laporte added. "We also wanted to give a boost to Mignoni particularly as Beauxis will play at flyhalf."

Flanker Serge Betsen will captain the team as Ibanez is rested, while vice captain Fabien Pelous will start on the bench.

"Pieter de Villiers and Ibanez are 35 and 34, and we want to spare them before we enter the knockout phase," Laporte said. "Pelous has just recovered from an ankle injury. We wanted to give him some playing time but it would have been risky to ask him to play for 80 minutes.

"We only are in the middle of the woods and we have to conserve our strength," he added.

The World Cup hosts are second in the group on 10 points, one ahead of Ireland and four behind leaders Argentina who face the Irish in their final match on Sunday.

A win with a bonus point over Georgia would send France through to the last eight but to top their group they need Ireland to beat Argentina by more than seven points and with at least four tries.

"Ireland and Argentina are on the same level. Everything could happen," Laporte said.

Team: 15-Clement Poitrenaud, 14-Aurelien Rougerie, 13-David Marty, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Christophe Dominici, 10-Lionel Beauxis, 9-Pierre Mignoni, 8-Julien Bonnaire, 7-Yannick Nyanga, 6-Serge Betsen, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Lionel Nallet, 3-Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2-Sebastien Bruno, 1-Olivier Milloud.

Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Nicolas Mas, 18-Fabien Pelous, 19-Remy Martin, 20-Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 21-David Skrela, 22-Vincent Clerc.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport