Romain Ntamack and Damian Penaud return as France go for 7:1 split on the bench

Romain Ntamack and Damian Penaud have returned to the French starting side for Saturday's crunch Six Nations clash with Ireland at Aviva Stadium.

Fabien Galthié includes Ntamack after he completed a three-game suspension for a dangerous tackle on Wales’ Ben Thomas in Round 1.

Penaud returns having been left out of the starting side against Italy as he has another chance to equal, and maybe better, Serge Blanco record of 38 tries for France, with Penaud currently just one adrift.

Galthié has also opted for a 7:1 split on the bench, just like they did in that win over the Italians.

Earlier this week, Irish scrum coach John Fogarty had spoken of the dangers of such a lob-sided approach.

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"It would spook us [to play a 7:1 split]. It’s something we wouldn’t do. We don’t necessarily want to go there with a 7:1 for those reasons.

"You saw against Scotland, you lose two players to a head collision early in the game. They went 6:2 for that game and it hurt them."

Grégory Alldritt had sat out training this week due to a groin injury, but the La Rochelle forward is named on the bench.

France: Jean-Baptiste Gros, Peato Mauvaka, Uini Atonio , Thibaud Flament , Mickaël Guillard, François Cros, Paul Boudehent, Grégory Alldritt, Antoine Dupont (c), Romain Ntamack, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Yoram Moefana, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Damian Penaud, Thomas Ramos

Replacements: Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille, Dorian Aldegheri, Emmanuel Meafou, Hugo Auradou, Oscar Jego, Anthony Jelonch, Maxime Lucu

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