A 22-man Les Bleus squad, which included long-term absentees Fabien Pelous and Frederic Michalak, was named on Tuesday for the international friendly against England at Twickenham this weekend.

With a return match against the world champions in Marseille and a clash with Wales in Cardiff to come before the World Cup opener against Argentina on September 7, French selectors have three games to assess their options.

Team manager Jo Maso insists the squad will be rotated for the trio of matches, and is adamant France will not go into the September showpiece with an 'A' and 'B' team like they did in Australia in 2003.

Maso said: 'We will have different 22-man squads each time. We have decided that everyone will participate. In Marseille, it will be largely the same team, plus some others.

'There isn't a definite first team like we chose to go with in 2003, with a standard first team and then a second team.

'We are not going to make the same errors again - we perhaps were badly organised then.

'Here we have three matches, and we will use all the players and see then who we will use for the team to play Argentina.'

Pelous and Michalak were the outstanding names selected for Les Bleus' opening warm-up match.

Pelous, who has not played international rugby since November because of an ankle injury, will equal Philippe Sella's record of 111 caps for France if he plays on Saturday.

The Toulouse star is set to resume his long-time partnership with Jerome Thion in the second row, while Michalak could return at fly-half after an even longer spell in the international wilderness.

The mercurial 24-year-old, who will join Natal Sharks after the World Cup, last played for his country in March last year - in an RBS 6 Nations Championship match against Wales - and has also been struggling with injury over the past year.