Bernard Laportes men were magnificent before Christmas in seeing off the respective challenges of Australia, South Africa, Canada and Tonga with something to spare.

They will undoubtedly miss the expertise of centre Yannick Jauzion, who on Friday was ruled out of the clash with a fractured toe.

The 16st, 6ft 4in Toulouse star, whose sleight of hand would be the envy of any magician, would be missed by any side in world rugby but France remain far from a one-man team.

Any side that can leave the likes of Sebastien Chabal out of their back row must have some real quality and in Julien Bonnaire, Yannick Nyanga and Remy Martin, they possess just that.

Captain Fabien Pelous also returns to the starting line-up after completing his nine-week ban received for elbowing Australia hooker Brendan Cannon, adding further power to an already super-charged forward pack.

Pelous is completely focused on getting the French campaign off to a winning start.

Every tournament is different but the thing that never changes is my hunger for victories and domination over other teams. The only danger ahead is to lose, Pelous said.

A lot of things can happen during a match but we are certainly travelling to Scotland to win. There is no trap waiting for us there.