AN Others Pending Medical Reports

Shane Horgan returns to the Ireland side having recovered from a knee injury but Eddie O’Sullivan has left two places open in his starting XV as he waits on captain Brian O’Driscoll and Peter Stringer to prove their fitness.

If Stringer fails to make it, then Isaac Boss will start and Eoin Reddan will be among the replacements. If O’Driscoll is ruled out, Horgan will switch to the centre and Geordan Murphy come onto the wing.

In the absence of O’Driscoll, the side will be lead on this historic occasion by Munster skipper Paul O’Connell.

Ireland: Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, A.N. Other, Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie; Ronan O’Gara, A.N. Other; Marcus Horan, Rory Best, John Hayes; Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell; Simon Easterby, David Wallace, Denis Leamy.      

Replacements: Jerry Flannery, Simon Best, Mick O’Driscoll, Neil Best or Jamie Heaslip,  Isaac Boss or Eoin Reddan, Paddy Wallace, Geordan Murphy or  Andrew Trimble.

France: Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse),  David Marty (Perpignan),  Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse),  Christophe Dominici (Stade Français);  David Skréla (Stade Français),  Pierre Mignoni (Clermont Auvergne);  Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français), Raphaël Ibañez (London Wasps) (captain),  Pieter de Villiers (Stade Français); Pascal Papé, Lionel Nallet;  Serge Betsen (Biarritz),
Imañol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Sebastian Chabal (Sale Sharks).   Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru (Sale Sharks), 17 Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), 18 Jérôme Thion (Biarritz), 19 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), 20 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), 21 Lionel Beauxis (Stade Français), 22 Cédric Heymans (Toulouse).

Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Peter Allan (Scotland)