France stick with winners for semifinal

France coach Marc Lievremont has stuck with the squad of 22 players that turned around their Rugby World Cup campaign with their quarterfinal defeat of England for their last four encounter against Wales at Eden Park on Saturday.

France beat the Six Nations champions 19-12 last Saturday after only qualifying for the knockout stage following unconvincing pool phase victories over Japan and Canada and reports of division within the team camp.

Lievremont continued with the tactic of playing scrumhalf Morgan Parra at flyhalf, while veteran No 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, whose was outstanding last week against England, was retained for the clash.

Tighthead prop Nicolas Mas, who had missed three pool matches with a hamstring injury before playing against England, was retained in a front row that includes William Servat and Jean-Baptiste Poux.

France: 15-Maxime Medard, 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12-Maxime Mermoz, 11-Alexis Palisson, 10-Morgan Parra, 9-Dimitri Yachvili, 8-Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Lionel Nallet, 4-Pascal Pape, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-William Servat, 1-Jean-Baptiste Poux

Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Fabien Barcella, 18-Julien Pierre, 19-Louis Picamoles, 20-Francois Trinh-Duc, 21-David Marty, 22-Cedric Heymans