Wales face changed side as French get tough

France coach Bernard Laporte took a commendable stand on violent conduct yesterday by removing a pair of sin-binned lock forwards from his depleted team to face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

In marked contrast to England's forgiving treatment of Martin Johnson, David Auradou and Fabien Pelous have been punished for their yellow cards.

Auradou was drummed out of the squad after being carded for stamping against Italy, while Pelous - sin-binned for his club last weekend - has been relegated to the reserves' bench.

Laporte said: 'We have tried very hard over the last two years to behave ourselves. There is no way we could go back to any mayhem and lose our credibility.'

Wales will demote Iestyn Harris to the bench when they name their team today.

WALES (probable): K Morgan; D James, T Shanklin, A Marinos, C Morgan; S Jones, R Howley; S John, R McBryde, C Anthony; C Quinnell, A Moore; N Budgett, S Quinnell (capt), M Williams. Subs: B Williams, D Jones, I Gough, Gavin Thomas, D Peel, I Harris, R Williams.

FRANCE: N Brusque; A Rougerie, D Traille, T Marsh, X Garbajosa; G Merceron, P Mignoni; J-J Crenca, R Ibanez ( capt), P de Villiers; T Privat, O Brouzet; S Betsen, I Harinordoquy, S Hall. Subs: O Milloud, S Bruno, A Audebert, F Pelous, A Albouy, F Gelez, J Marlu.

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