And Yachvili, who will start against the Azzurri in the Stade de France on Saturday admits there is an added pressure since their performance in Auckland last October.

“I’m delighted to picked to start the Championship, above all because there is an obligation to get a result,” said Yachvili who missed last year’s defeat in Rome with injury.

“Even more than usual because we were runners-up at the World Cup and because there is a new management in place. We have to win and as with every preparation, focussing on the next match.

“I started playing again [after injury] a month and a half ago. So if I’ve been chosen to start it’s because the coaches think I deserve it through my performances. I’m not worrying about that.”

Biarritz scrum-half Yachvili already knows new French boss Philippe Saint-André having worked together at Gloucester, and he admits there is a big difference between the former French skipper and his predecessor Marc Lièvremont.

He added: “They are two completely different styles of coaching. But that was the case when Marc Lièvremont took over from Bernard Laporte. We have only spent five or six days together so far. You can sense a different approach and we are learning a new system. Philippe Saint-André places a premium on the basics: the set-piece and good discipline, on and off the pitch.”