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Guy Novès has made sweeping changes to his France team that dropped the first test against Argentina in decisive fashion. Jules Plisson has been dumped not just as captain but also from the starting side, with Toulouse lock Yoann Maestri set to lead for the first time after joining the squad during the week. Fellow Toulousain Louis Picamoles has also been restored to the starting lineup in place of Raphaël Lakafia, who failed to impress on Sunday.
The only other change to the forwards sees La Rochelle giant Uini Atonio installed at tighthead with Rabah Slimani on the bench. Paul Jedrasiak is selected as a reserve, as is debutant Kélian Galletier of Montpellier. His clubmate François Trinh-Duc is the new flyhalf, and there is a new midfield pairing in Rémi Lamerat and Gaël Fickou. Hugo Bonneval is out, with veteran Maxime Médard to wear the no15 shirt instead.
Tucumán will again host this week’s match at the Estadio Monumental José Fierro, with kickoff set for 3:10pm local time on Saturday.
FRANCE
1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Rémi Bonfils, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Julien Le Devedec, 5 Yoann Maestri (capt.), 6 Loann Goujon, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 8 Louis Picamoles, 9 Baptiste Serin, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 11 Djibril Camara, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 13 Gaël Fickou, 14 Xavier Mignot, 15 Maxime Médard
Replacements: 16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Lucas Pointud, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Kélian Galletier, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Julien Rey
