Thierry Dusautoir will lead France in its final World Cup warm-up match against Scotland on Saturday after recovering from a knee problem.
The 33-year-old flanker missed two matches against England last month after damaging a knee during a training session. He is now trying to regain full fitness ahead of the World Cup, held in England and Wales, which starts Sept. 18.
"He is in great shape, his performance will matter and he prepared well for this match," said France coach Philippe Saint-Andre.
Dusautoir replaced Bernard Le Roux as Saint-Andre kept faith with the players who beat England 25-20 in their previous game, making just another change to his line-up. Second-row Yoann Maestri is hampered by a rib injury and made room for Alexandre Flanquart as the French staff decided to take a cautious approach with him.
Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Frederic Michalak will link up again in the half-backs and Saint-Andre selected first-choice centre pairing Wesley Fofana and Mathieu Bastareaud.
France travels to England on Sep. 12, a week before its opening World Cup match against Italy at Twickenham. The three-time runner-up also faces Romania, Canada and Ireland in Pool D.
"This is a balanced team and the one which will start against Italy could be very similar to it," Saint-Andre said.
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Team: Scott Spedding, Yoann Huget, Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fofana, Noa Nakaitaci, Frederic Michalak, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Louis Picamoles, Damien Chouly, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Alexandre Flanquart, Pascal Pape, Rabah Slimani, Guilhem Guirado, Eddy Ben Arous. Reserves: Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Bernard Le Roux, Yannick Nyanga, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Alexandre Dumoulin.
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