French No. 8 Raphael Lakafia will win his first cap forin Saturday's World Cup warm-up match against Ireland.

The 22-year-old, who plays for Biarritz, will be well supported in the back row by veteran flanks Imanol Harinordoquy and Thierry Dusautoir.

"We wanted to play Lakafia from the start," France coach Marc Lievremont said on Wednesday. "I think he's an intelligent player, and he has good handling skills. We think he's ready."

Lievremont also picked Dimitri Yachvili at scrumhalf alongside flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc, while Dimitri Szarzewski starts at hooker and prolific try scorer Vincent Clerc takes his place on the right wing.

"We're impatient to get going," Lievremont said. "We are expecting a lot from this match after five weeks of preparation. Now, we're in competition mode."

Clerc, who has scored 24 tries in 48 appearances for France, has recovered from a knee injury.

"We checked his fitness out 100 percent, he's a competitor," Lievremont said.

Trinh-Duc's position appears safe after his excellent performances in the Six Nations Championship earlier this year, but Yachvili is vying with Morgan Parra to be France's starter at the World Cup in New Zealand later this month.

Yachvili is likely to take over the kicking duties, with Damien Traille and Trinh-Duc the backups.

Traille has played at center for most of his career. He had an unsuccessful spell at flyhalf last season when he was badly exposed in the 59-16 home defeat to Australia in November.

He played reasonably well at fullback during the 2007 World Cup, but mostly in a defensive capacity because of his strong tackling and ability to kick long distances for touch.

Prop Nicolas Mas, who is not in the squad for Saturday's match, sat out Wednesday's training session as a precautionary measure because of a tight hamstring.

Lievremont has to drop two players from his provisional 32-man squad when he announces his World Cup squad on August 22.

Last week, the France's rugby federation dropped winger Yoann Huget after he broke anti-doping rules by failing to properly to inform test authorities of his whereabouts for three tests.

Ireland lost 10-6 to Scotland in Edinburgh last Saturday.

France beat Ireland 25-22 in Dublin in the Six Nations earlier this year.

France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy,  6 Thierry Dusautoir,  5 Romain Millo-Chluski,  4 Julien Pierre,  3 Luc Ducalcon,  2 Dimitri Szarzewski,  1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Skrela, 22 Maxime Medard.

Date: Saturday, August 13
Venue: Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux
Kick-off: 16.30 (14.30 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)

SAPA