France flyhalf Lionel Beauxis and centre Maxime Mermoz have been ruled out of France's Six Nations game against Wales due to injury. They will be replaced by François Trinh-Duc and Mathieu Bastareaud.
French coach Marc Lièvremont (pictured) presented an almost unchanged list of 23 players to play Wales on Feb. 27. The only new entry is veteran prop Sylvain Marconnet, who makes the team because of a series of injuries among the forwards.
Ireland joined Wales at the top of the standings with a 38-9 victory over Italy at Rome's Stadio Flaminio on Sunday. The Irish who scored five tries will next face England.
Despite Italy suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of England last week, and his own team's victory (pictured) over France, Ireland coach Declan Kidney remained wary before his team's Six Nations match against the Italians in Rome.
Reigning Six Nations champions Wales remained on course to retain their title after a 23-15 victory over England at the Millennium Stadium. England outscored Wales by two tries to one but they paid dearly for their indiscipline.
France bounced back from last week's defeat against Ireland to beat Scotland 22-13 in the Six Nations Cup. The Scots, who have not won at the Stade de France in 10 years, suffered their second defeat in seven days.
Both France and Scotland will be looking for a welcome victory in today's Six Nations match at the Stade de France, after France lost to Ireland and Scotland was defeated by Grand Slam holders Wales last weekend.
A disciplinary committee suspended Florian Fritz for three weeks. The France centre was found guilty of making contact with the eye area of Irish flanker Stephen Ferris during the Ireland-France on Saturday. He will miss two games.
Sale's lock Sebastien Chabal will be replaced by Romain Millo-Chluski to face Scotland on Saturday at Stade de France. French coach Marc Lievremont also made three more changes in the starting squad.
Wales began its Six Nations rugby crown defence with a confident 26-13 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. The Welsh, who led 26-6 early in the second half, ran in four tries.
