Staniforth gets debut for France while Poirot is back against All Blacks

CHRISTCHURCH, July 2 : France have handed a debut to lock Tom Staniforth and brought back loosehead Jefferson Poirot, six years after he announced his international retirement, for their opening Nations Championship clash against New Zealand on Saturday.

• Australian-born Staniforth, who moved to France six years ago, makes his Test debut at the age of 31.

• The 33-year-old Poirot won the last of his 36 caps in 2020 before stepping away from the international arena, citing a lack of motivation after the 2019 World Cup.

• Winger Damian Penaud, who was left out of this year's Six Nations, also makes a comeback.

• Fullback Max Spring gets his second cap, four years after his debut against the country his father hails from.

• In the absence of the injured Antoine Dupont, his scrumhalf stand-in Maxime Lucu captains the team.

• Eight of the team are drawn from European champions Bordeaux Begles as players from last weekend's Top 14 finalists – Toulouse and Montpellier – are not playing after joining up late with the squad.

• France opted for a 5-3 split on the bench between forwards and backs, with Clermont hooker Barnabé Massa expected to earn his first international cap.

Team: 15-Max Spring, 14-Damian Penaud, 13-Fabien Brau-Boirie, 12-Yoram Moefana, 11-Theo Attissogbe, 10-Matthieu Jalibert, 9-Maxime Lucu (captain), 8-Marko Gazzotti, 7-Oscar Jegou, 6-Pierre Bochaton, 5-Tom Staniforth, 4-Hugo Auradou, 3-Demba Bamba, 2-Maxime Lamothe, 1-Jefferson Poirot

Replacements: 16-Barnabé Massa, 17-Reda Wardi, 18-Regis Montagne, 19-Mickael Guillard, 20-Killian Tixeront, 21-Nolann Le Garrec, 22-Antoine Hastoy, 23-Nicolas Depoortere.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by xx)