France, Scotland ready for Rugby World Cup

France and Scotland hit the field on Friday to train for their upcoming clash in Paris on Saturday.

Captain Thierry Dusautoir made his return to the France team after recovering from a knee injury when he was named to lead Les Bleus in their final World Cup warm-up game at the Stade de France.

Coach Philippe Saint Andre made only two changes to the team who beat England on Aug. 22 with flanker Dusautoir taking back his place from Bernard Le Roux after a two-game layoff and Alexandre Flanquart replacing Yoann Maestri in the second row.

Saint Andre otherwise kept faith in Sebastien Tillous Borde and Frederic Michalak for the scrumhalf and flyhallf positions after the pair produced convincing performances in the 25-20 defeat of England.

The powerful Louis Picamoles retained his starting spot at number eight too after making a very good impression against England.

France will start their World Cup campaign on Sept. 19 against Italy after being drawn in Pool D with the Azzurri and Canada, Romania, as well as Ireland.

“The opposition that the Scottish team puts up will be a little different to what the English gave us, I think. They always have a very rhythmic game, they’re very good at stealing the ball so we will need to make sure keep the play going and that we avoid losing the ball easily,” Dusautoir told a news conference.

Scotland have recalled fullback Sean Maitland and winger Tommy Seymour after injury for Saturday’s game.

The pair have recovered from shoulder and back injuries respectively with head coach Vern Cotter making five changes to the side that beat Italy 48-7 last weekend.

Centre Matt Scott comes in to start alongside Mark Bennett in the remaining change to the back division, while the inclusion of back-row John Hardie and lock Richie Gray complete the changes to the pack.

Scotland are drawn against South Africa, Japan, United States and Samoa in Pool B and will open their World Cup campaign against Japan on Sept. 23.