French look to defy critics in daunting rugby Six Nations campions Wales clash

PARIS (AFP) — France coach Marc Lievremont's honeymoon period has not lasted long and defeat against Six Nations champions Wales here on Friday could signal the start of divorce proceedings.

For the mounting band of critics his selection for the match against the Grand Slam holders - who are on course for a repeat after beating Scotland and England - has given them further ammunition after he opted to go without a specialist goalkicker.

Instead, the former France flanker has chosen his ninth different halfback pairing since he took over in January 2008 with 20-year-old scrum-half Morgan Parra and 25-year-old Benoit Baby at fly-half despite him being more at ease in the centre.

Lievremont, who has remained with a more or less settled squad this campaign compared to the changes he made in last year's edition, did have the option of starting with a specialist fly-half in Francois Trinh-Duc, who was called up after Lionel Beauxis was ruled out through injury.

An increasingly tetchy Lievremont moved to defend his selection saying that Trinh-Duc - who was also preferred in the squad to Toulouse fly-half David Skrela - ... // 67% Remaining