Autumn Internationals: France v Australia match preview
Last Updated: 14/11/14 2:09pm
France will be determined to bounce back from their disastrous tour of Australia when they take on the Wallabies at the Stade de France on Saturday night.
Les Bleus were whitewashed 3-0 in the summer and have won just six matches from a possible 20 since they thrashed their opponents in 2012, although they did seem to regain some confidence with an impressive win over Fiji last weekend.
The pressure is now on Philippe Saint-Andre for a repeat performance in Paris, live on Sky Sports 4 HD.
Hat-trick hero Teddy Thomas retains his place in an unchanged team named by coach Saint-Andre for the one-off Test match.
South African-born full-back Scott Spedding, who also made an impressive debut in last Saturday's 40-15 victory over Fiji in Marseille, likewise keeps his place.
Thomas made a stunning debut at the Stade Velodrome, becoming only the second Frenchman to score a hat-trick of tries on his first appearance for France, matching the 1987 feat of Rodolphe Modin, who scored three of 13 tries against minnows Zimbabwe at the World Cup.
"There's a chance he will be targeted but he has a huge potential and he's worked hard on his defence," said Saint-Andre.
"He's a young player who learns quickly. If he costs us two tries but scores four on Saturday, that would be a good return."
Saint-Andre has kept faith in another South African-born player, flanker Bernard Le Roux, despite the availability of veteran Yannick Nyanga.
Tougher test
Although Australia, ranked third in the world, will provide a much tougher test than 12th-ranked Fiji, Saint-Andre expects his team to go about the task in the same way.
He added: "We expected as much freshness and enthusiasm (as against Fiji), but with greater effectiveness.
"Now we're up against the third-ranked team so we're going to have to show as much courage, desire and certainly more precision because the physical battle will be even tougher."
Michael Cheika's side got off to a winning start last weekend against Wales with their clinical finishing whenever they got a chance ended up being the difference between the two sides.
Now we're up against the third-ranked team so we're going to have to show as much courage, desire and certainly more precision because the physical battle will be even tougher.
Philippe Saint-Andre
In two matches since he took charge following the abrupt sacking of Ewen McKenzie, Cheika's Wallabies have conceded nine tries.
However they won both games, defeating the Barbarians 40-36 at Twickenham before edging out Wales 33-28 in Cardiff.
Former Leinster and Stade Francais coach Cheika, still the head coach of Super Rugby champions Waratahs, says it will take time for his players to master his new defensive strategy so he is not worried about conceding tries.
"It's absolutely normal for a team that's had a change in system and also maybe it's been difficult to get united as much because there has been so much going on," said Cheika, whose only change to the Aussie team sees James Horwill come in for Sam Carter at lock.
"Defence is a real symbol of how close we are as a team, (whether we're) prepared to tackle for each other.
"I know we've made mistakes and we've let in a few tries, and I know this is going to sound stupid but I've liked the way we've done it because we've been trying to go to the new system, which I'm not afraid to say is a more aggressive, more front-foot system.
"We're going to make mistakes early, there's no doubt about that. You can't just say I'm going to change the defensive system and not have problems with it because it's the 10 or 12 guys communicating with each other all the time and making live decisions.
"So I'm prepared to let a few in if it means getting our system better so that as we get to know each other and get to know the system it becomes really rock solid."
France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde; 1 Alexandre Menini, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Nicolas Mas, 4 Pascal Pape, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Damien Chouly.
Replacements from: Xavier Chiocci, Benjamin Kayser, Uini Atonio, Alexandre Flanquart, Sébastien Vahaamahina, Yannick Nyanga, Charles Ollivon, Rory Kockott, Remi Tales, Maxime Mermoz, Mathieu Bastareaud, Maxime Medard.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps; 1 James Slipper, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 James Horwill, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 8 Ben McCalman.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Matt Hodgson, 21 Will Genia, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Rob Horne.
Watch France take on Australia, live on Sky Sports 4 HD from 7.30pm (GMT).