Les Bleus hopes of retaining the RBS 6 Nations title received a boost when they defeated England 18-17 just eight days after completing a 16-9 home victory over Scotland.

But the manner of their victory at Twickenham, coming after one of the most tepid and unimaginative first-half performances by a France team in recent years, has led the ruthless France boss to ring the changes for the clash against the unbeaten Welsh at the Stade de France.

Sebastien Chabal, Brian Liebenberg and Pepito Elhorga are all dropped from Laportes squad after failing to impress at Twickenham.

Winger Jimmy Marlu is an enforced withdrawal after injuring his left knee against Andy Robinsons men and will be replaced by Aurelien Rougerie.

Laporte insists the changes to the squad are essential if Les Bleus are to continue to improve during what he sees as a transitional period for his side.

It breaks my heart to sideline players who defeated England at Twickenham but we are in a rebuilding process, said Laporte.

Since we are aiming at excellence, we must boost the squad.

If weve made so many changes in the squad after winning at Twickenham, its because we are not satisfied with our performance.

We are perfectly aware that we could have lost and we have a lot of progress to make, especially on the offensive side.

Chabal will be replaced by Imanol Harinordoquy, the devastating number eight, although Julien Bonnaires excellent display at the base of the scrum on Sunday could prompt Laporte to use the returning Biarritz star elsewhere in the back row.

Sebastien has our trust, but I think he would be more useful in the second row, he added.

He will be back with us, probably this summer for the Test matches.

Centre Liebenberg is replaced by Yannick Jauzion, who has shaken off his injury.

Brian must give more to the team, said team manager Jo Maso.

His performance was too timid compared to what we are expecting from him.

Full-back Elhorga was blamed for Frances lack of strength in their backline, giving an opportunity for Brives Julien Laharrague, a France A side regular, to shine.