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France makes six changes to team

France coach Bernard Laporte yesterday announced six changes in his 22-strong squad to take on England in Marseille on Saturday in the second of two World Cup buildup games.

Four of the changes were in the pack and the other two among the backs.

Sale hooker Sebastien Bruno takes over from Dimitri Szarzewski of Stade Frangais at hooker, while lock Sebastien Chabal, who picked up a slight calf injury in the 21-15 French win at Twickenham on Saturday is replaced by Lionel Nallet of Castres.

In the back row Imanol Harinordoquy of Biarritz and Thierry Dusautoir of Toulouse return to the squad in place of Serge Betsen and Remy Martin.

In the backs, veteran winger Christophe Dominici of Stade Francais comes in for Vincent Clerc of Toulouse while Yannick Jauzion of Toulouse, who missed the England game due to a back injury returns at center in place of David Marty.

French team manager Jo Maso also announced that a decision on whether or not first choice prop Sylvain Marconnet will remain in the 30-strong World Cup squad will be taken on Thursday.

The Stade Francais strongman has been struggling with an injury to his left ankle and Mas has been called in on standby should he be forced to withdraw.

* France team:

Forwards: Sebastien Bruno (Sale/ENG), Raphael Ibanez (Wasps/ENG, capt), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Jerome Nallet (Castres), Fabien Pelous (Toulouse), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse).

Backs: Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Natal Sharks/RSA), David Skrela (Stade Frangais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Frangais), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse).

Scotland chooses Barclay

John Barclay was the surprise inclusion when Scotland coach Frank Hadden named his World Cup squad yesterday.

The 20-year-old openside flanker has yet to play a Test but could now find himself making his international debut when Scotland begin their Pool C campaign against minnows Portugal in St Etienne, south-east France, next month.

Scotland's 30-man squad, captained by Sale back-row Jason White, features 20 players who are appearing in their first World Cup.

But the British and Irish Lions duo of lock Scott Murray and outside-half Chris Paterson will be competing for the William Webb Ellis trophy for the third time.

"I have selected a squad that has the ability to do something special at the World Cup and make our country proud," Hadden said. "It is the most competitive squad we could muster."

Scotland's World Cup hopes received a timely boost last weekend when they beat Ireland 31-21 at Murrayfield and Hadden added: "Overall this is a more mature group than we could have chosen two years ago. There's a fair amount of experience there and a good balance between the power that was demonstrated in our win against Ireland last weekend and a bit of footballing ability."

Barclay was still at school when the last World Cup took place in Australia four years ago.

"I was injured at the time and I remember watching a Scotland game at my friend's house when I was meant to be watching the school team play," he said.

Scotland have divided their squad into 17 forwards and 13 backs.

Scrum-half Chris Cusiter was included despite the ankle injury he sustained against Ireland.

* Scotland team:

Backs: Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Perpignan), Rob Dewey (Ulster/IRL), Marcus Di Rollo (Edinburgh), Andrew Henderson (Glasgow), Rory Lamont (Sale/ENG), Sean Lamont (Northampton/ENG), Rory Lawson (Gloucester/ENG), Dan Parks (Glasgow), Chris Paterson (Gloucester/ENG), Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh), Nikki Walker (Ospreys/WAL), Simon Webster (Edinburgh).

Forwards: John Barclay (Glasgow), Kelly Brown (Glasgow), David Callam (Edinburgh), Ross Ford (Glasgow), Jim Hamilton (Leicester/ENG), Nathan Hines (Perpignan/FRA), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Gavin Kerr (Glasgow), Scott Lawson (Sale/ENG), Scott MacLeod (Llanelli/WAL), Euan Murray (Northampton/ENG), Scott Murray (Montauban/FRA), Craig Smith (Edinburgh), Simon Taylor (Stade Francais/FRA), Fergus Thomson (Glasgow), Jason White (Sale/ENG, captain).

All Blacks confirm Somerville

All Black prop Greg Somerville has been confirmed as the last member of the 30-man New Zealand squad for the Rugby World Cup after recovering from injury.

An achilles tendon injury suffered against the Springboks in August last year has kept the 55-Test veteran out of international rugby ever since.

His recent return to provincial matches was set back when he needed surgery following an eye injury at the end of July.

Only 29 players were named in the All Black squad last month, and coach Graham Henry yesterday praised the 29-year-old Somerville on his successful battle to recover from what could have been a career-ending injury.

"As long as he was fit, he was going to go -- that was for sure. It just shows the desire, the dream of this guy to be there. He's worked hard and impressed a lot of people," Henry said. "And he'll produce at rugby World Cup."

Following a positive report from his eye surgeon on Monday, Somerville is ready to resume running and rugby training.
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