David Skrela has been promoted from the bench by Marc Lievremont © Getty Images

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Matches: France 26 - 21 Ireland

Players/Officials: Vincent Clerc

Marc Lievremont insists France are by no means the finished article after making six changes to the line-up that dismantled Scotland for Saturday's clash with Ireland. Lievremont got his tenure as Les Bleus coach off to a great start on Sunday with a 27-6 RBS 6 Nations Championship victory at Murrayfield, but has still been left wanting more from his young squad.

He has changed half of his pack for the visit of the Irish to Paris, while Francois Trinh-Duc - one of his stellar performers at the weekend - has been demoted to the bench in the backs. Vincent Clerc was also initially named on the bench and replaced by Aurelien Rougerie, but was later handed a starting berth when wing Julien Malzieu had to pull out due to a torn thigh muscle.

Toulouse flyer Clerc grabbed a brace of tries against the Scots and also had a superb all-round game, furthering his credentials as the best winger in Europe at the moment. Many thought Lievremont could not have asked for much more from his inexperienced team in Edinburgh, but he is proving a hard man to please.

"There is an enormous gap between our satisfaction with the spirit we showed, our courage, the desire to play and our solidarity, and next to that - if we want to be objective - the enormous failure in the construction of our play, our attitude at the breakdown to get quicker ball, some concerns in the scrum, a very vague kicking game and badly-used ball,'' he said.

"That leaves us little opportunity to get over-excited. On the whole, we are delighted but there remains a lot of work to do.''

Trinh-Duc steps down to the bench, with David Skrela - France's chief fly-half in last season's Six Nations - promoted to the starting line-up. In the forwards, hooker William Servat, prop Julien Brugnaut and lock Loic Jacquet are dropped while number eight Elvis Vermeulen has been ruled out of the tournament with a broken rib.

Vermeulen is replaced in the line-up by Julien Bonnaire, while uncapped Montpellier back-rower Louis Picamoles, 21, is brought into the squad and starts on the bench. Dimitri Szarzewski comes in at hooker, Nicolas Mas replaces Brugnaut to shore up a front row that creaked in the first half against the Scots, and Arnaud Mela displaces Jacquet for his first start for his country.

"There are a few changes in the starting team, changes which reward the state of spirit among the replacements before and during the Scotland match,'' Lievremont said. "These changes are clearly not meant as a sanction. It is a logical choice to see everyone in the heat of battle, but still with a desire to keep the equilibrium.''

Centre David Marty has a back problem but is still expected to be fit for the weekend. Scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde remains troubled by the knock to his ankle that forced him off after 63 minutes at Murrayfield, and he is training on his own at the moment. The Toulouse number nine nevertheless makes it into the starting XV for the Ireland clash.

Eddie O'Sullivan reacted to Ireland's hesitant start to the RBS 6 Nations by bringing in three new faces. Leinster trio Jamie Heaslip, Bernard Jackman and Rob Kearney have been promoted from the bench after making substitute appearances in the opening weekend's unconvincing 16-11 victory over Italy.

Heaslip slots in at number eight, Denis Leamy displaces Simon Easterby on the blindside and Jackman is preferred ahead of Ulster hooker Rory Best. In total, under-fire O'Sullivan has made six changes, three positional, with Andrew Trimble starting at inside centre.

Many critics will argue the surgery on a team that has underperformed to varying degrees for seven successive Tests is long overdue. But O'Sullivan insisted it was important not to expose the three new arrivals, who have a total of 11 caps between them, by tossing them into a potentially-fraught Six Nations opener.

He said: "Italy are notorious for upsetting teams on the first day out of the Six Nations and you could make the case that they upset us a little bit on Saturday. I went in with the view I wanted things rock solid and didn't want guys who had never been there before and might find the occasion a leap.

"The lads came off the bench into the cauldron of Six Nations rugby and did well. They offer us a different dynamic. It's good to give them a shot against France. They've put themselves in the frame but now the pressure is on to deliver on their form.

"They're up for it and that's why I put them in there. In demoting Easterby and Best to the bench, O'Sullivan admitted Ireland were losing solidity at the line-out. But he was sufficiently impressed by the performances of Heaslip and Jackman against Italy that he decided their hard running made it an acceptable trade-off.

"Ball-carrying has been a highlight of their game for Leinster. To have some extra ball-carriers in Paris will be very useful,'' O'Sullivan said. "A week on, with a game under our belts, we've settled in a bit. Bernard and Jamie will fit in fine and offer some dynamism around the field that will help us in Paris.''

Trimble finished the Italy game in the number 12 jersey after Gordon D'Arcy had limped off with the broken arm that ended his championship. The Ulsterman's physical presence and enthusiasm caused the Azzurri problems, while Kearney also shone after arriving as a first-half replacement for D'Arcy.

Kearney fills the left wing, with Geordan Murphy - who was due to see an eye specialist this afternoon after sustaining a cornea abrasion against Italy - moving onto the right. Leinster's Shane Horgan wins a place on the bench after completing his recovery from a rib injury in Friday's Ireland A defeat by England Saxons.

"Rob Kearney also came off the bench against Italy and did very well,'' said O'Sullivan. "Andrew will have been helped by playing at centre against Italy. He played a good game. He's a power runner.''

Ireland need their rejigged line-up to gel immediately if O'Sullivan is to strengthen his increasingly-precarious position. It has been suggested that defeat to Italy - which seemed a distinct possibility heading into the final 10 minutes - would have concluded his near seven-year tenure.

Ireland have won just once in Paris since 1972 and new-look France, fresh from their rout of Scotland, are overwhelming favourites to extend that run by another year. A mauling by Les Bleus would leave a beleaguered O'Sullivan reeling on the ropes awaiting the knockout blow from the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The guillotine may be hovering but O'Sullivan insists his heavy workload has shielded him from the calls for his head. "I know there's talking going on outside camp about other things but I can't buy into that - it's not going to make me do a better job,'' he said. "In fact, it would detract from the job. We got over the hurdle against Italy. It was ugly, but we still got over it.

"Paris is a greater hurdle and it's a big ask. I deal with the pressure by staying busy and getting on with my work. There is only time for work in the Six Nations. Putting energy into thinking about what is being said is wasted. You can't control what people write or say.''

France: C Heymans (Toulouse); A Rougerie (Clermont-Auvergne), D Marty (Perpignan), D Traille (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse); D Skrela (Stade Francais), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); N Mas (Perpignan), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), L Faure (Sale), A Mela (Albi), L Nallet (Castres), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne)

Replacements: W Servat (Toulouse), J Brugnaut (Dax), L Jacquet (Clermont-Auvergne), L Picamoles (Montpellier), M Parra (Bourgoin), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), A Floch (Clermont-Auvergne).

Ireland: G Dempsey (Leinster); G Murphy (Leicester), O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), A Trimble (Ulster), R Kearney (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), B Jackman (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), S Horgan (Leinster).

Referee: N. Owens (Wales)