Changed Wallaby squad gear up for battle with les Bleus

After the narrowest of victories over Scotland last weekend, the Wallabies will face an altogether different challenge on Saturday when they square off against the mighty Les Bleus at Stade de France.

Through his wily knowledge and experience, French boss Fabien Galthie has honed a truly formidable unit of players – both up front and out in the backs – and their form in recent years has rendered top contenders for the World Cup next year on their home soil.

While Australia can, technically, claim bragging rights with regard to the last time they crossed swords with France, the former will also be well aware that it was not a full-strength side over whom they narrowly claimed a series victory in July last year:

Over the course of their rivalry, the teams have met a total of 50 times, with the Aussies taking 29 victories while France have managed just 19.

Wallaby coach Dave Rennie has rung the changes to his team to take on the French this weekend.

Last week, Australia enjoyed the narrowest of victories over Scotland at Edinburgh and Rennie has made no secret of the fact that there is still much experimenting to be done ahead of next year’s World Cup.

“(For) the World Cup we’ll definitely pick and stick next year,” Rennie said.

“What we’ve got to understand is we can put our best side, or try and put our best side out, every week – but that’s a struggle, playing five internationals in a row over here.

“We’ve got a hell of a lot of guys that aren’t here that we think will be part of our World Cup squad and so it is important that we give opportunity for certain guys.

“We look at our three nines; we could play one of them every week but (what) if he gets injured and doesn’t go to the World Cup and we’ve missed an opportunity over here.”

In the front row, Taniela Tupou replaces the injured Allan Alaalatoa while, at scrumhalf, Nic White comes in for Tate McDermott.

“Tate was good and we expected that. He made a line break early and he got a line bend beyond that,” Rennie said.

“But it was quite noticeable when Nic White came on… the quality of his distribution, his speed to breakdown which allows to play quicker and play on top.”

Also amongst the backs, Jock Campbell will replace Tom Banks after the latter suffered an ankle injury against the Scots.

“We were keen to give Jock a start on this tour,” Rennie said.

“He’s trained with us for a number of weeks now and he’s really impressed us. He’s a really smart footballer, he’s got good feet and a good skill set.

“He’s not a kid, he’s had to work hard for his opportunity and, at 27, he’s pretty mature, so we reckon he’s ready to go.”

In the midfield, Hunter Paisami makes way for Lalakai Foketi.

“Lalakai, he’s been excellent this year. He had a massive year for for the Waratahs,” Rennie said.

“He’s a bigger body, he’s got good feet, a very good skill-set and we think that’ll be important this week.”

Amongst the replacements, the big Will Skelton and utility back Reece Hodge come onto the bench.

In the French camp, the dynamic duo of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack return to the starting XV.

The Toulouse halfback pairing were rested during the July internationals but return in a star-studded matchday 23 to tackle the Wallabies.

Dupont captains the side taking over the duties from Charles Ollivon who lead the side against Japan. His Toulouse teammates Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand start in the front row along with La Rochelle's Uini Atonio.

Ntamack has been out for more than six weeks due to an ankle injury and will partner World Rugby player of the year and Toulouse team-mate Antoine Dupont for Saturday's Test in Paris.

Cameron Woki and Thibaud Flament start in the second row with Paul Willemse missing the fixture because of a thigh issue.

Anthony Jelonch is the final Toulouse forward in the pack taking the number to four with Toulon's Charles Ollivon at no.7 and Gregory Alldritt completing the pack at no.8.

Thomas Ramos starts at fullback with Melvyn Jaminet missing the match through injury. Yoram Moefana and Damian Penaud start on the wings with Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou in the centres.

Fabien Galthie has named a strong bench which includes Peato Mauvaka, Dany Priso and Sipili Faletau who provide front row cover.

Romain Taofifenau and Killian Geraci cover the second row with France opting for a 6-2 split in favour of the forwards with Sekou Macalou providing back row cover.

Finally, Bordeaux's halfbacks Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert complete the bench.