There is also room for several returning players, with Lionel Beauxis coming back in after a three-year absence at fly-half and Clermont prop Vincent Debaty hoping to add to his one French cap won back in 2006.

Yannick Nyanga also returns in the back row after his stunning start to the season, as does his Toulouse colleague Yann David.

In the back three Clément Poitrenaud and Julien Malzieu are the other players who didn’t feature in France’s World Cup campaign.

However there is no room for second row Lionel Nallet whose career would appear to be over, while in-form Florian Fritz was also surprisingly omitted.

Mathieu Bastareaud, who Saint-André signed for Toulon before taking over the France job, also misses out and has not featured since Les Bleus claimed the Grand Slam in Paris back in 2010.

France will kick off their campaign at home to Italy on the 4th February hoping to avenge last year’s shock 22-21 defeat in Rome.

Backs: Morgan Parra (Clermont), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Lionel Beauxis (Toulouse), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont), Yann David (Toulouse), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Maxime Médard (Toulouse), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Toulon), Julien Malzieu (Clermont), Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

Forwards: Vincent Debaty (Clermont), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Luc Ducalcon (Castres) Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), William Servat (Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Pascal Papé (Stade Français), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse/Captain), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)