Scotland v France: Three new caps in Fabien Galthie's team for Murrayfield

The uncapped Pau centre Emilien Gailleton will make his France debut in Saturday's match against Scotland at Murrayfield. (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images)

France have named three uncapped players in their team to play Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

While the home side have opted for experience in their second warm-up Test before the Rugby World Cup, the French visitors are still at the experimental stage for what is their first match of the summer series.

Fabien Galthie, their head coach, will given debuts in Edinburgh to Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the Bordeaux winger, Emilien Gailleton, the Pau centre, and Paul Boudehent, the flanker who was part of the La Rochelle side which beat Leinster in the Champions Cup final in Dublin in May. Brice Dulin, another hero of La Rochelle’s win at the Aviva, will captain France. The 33-year-old full-back has not played for the national side since March 2021 but will win his 37th cap this weekend.

France will hope Dulin’s experience will help the new boys in the backline settle in. Bielle-Biarrey and Gailleton are both only 20 and deputise for Damian Penaud and Gael Fickou, two mainstays of the French side, who have been left out along with regular captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont and stand-off Romain Ntamack. Scotland, by contrast, have picked what looks to be close to their first-choice team, making 13 changes from the more experimental side that defeated Italy 25-13 last weekend in their opening World Cup warm-up.

France, the hosts, are joint favourites with New Zealand to win the tournament which begins on September 8. Both nations have been drawn in Pool A and will meet each other in the opening match in Paris.

France (v Scotland, Murrayfield, Saturday, 3.15pm): B Dulin (c); L Bielle-Biarrey, E Gailleton, Y Moefana, E Dumortier; M Jalibert, B Couilloud; J-B Gros, P Bourgarit, D Bamba, C Woki, B Chalureau, P Boudehent, S Macalou, Y Tanga. Replacements: P Mauvaka, R Wardi, S Falatea, P Willemse, D Cretin, B Serin, A Hastoy, A Vincent.