Fijian-born wingers start for France against Australia

MARCOUSSIS, France (Reuters) - France manager Guy Noves named Fijian-born wingers Noa Nakaitaci and Virimi Vakatawa on Thursday as Les Bleus brace for a defensive challenge against Australia at the Stade de France on Saturday. Vakatawa, who scored a hat-trick of tries in Saturday's 52-8 victory over Samoa, and his Clermont team mate Nakaitaci will start alongside centres Remi Lamerat and Wesley Fofana. Nakaitaci has scored seven tries in eight appearances for leaders Clermont in the French Top 14 this season and the club will have five starters on Saturday. "Of course, Clermont's success explains why," said Noves. "The game Clermont has been playing appeals to us." Noves made five changes to the team who thrashed Samoa, with Nakaitaci coming in for Huget and Jean-Marc Doussain taking over at flyhalf after Francois Trinh-Duc was ruled out of the series with a broken forearm. Flanker Charles Ollivon replaces Loann Goujon who is out injured while lock Sebastien Vahamahina takes Julien Le Devedec's place and prop Cyril Baille gets his first start in place of the injured Jefferson Poirot. For all their firepower at the back, however, France will need to put on a huge defensive display if they are to beat the Wallabies for the second time in a row after prevailing 29-26 in 2014. "We suffered for the first 4-5 minutes against Samoa but we must know that it's going to be the case for 80 minutes against Australia," Noves told a news conference. "So defence will be very important. We haven't seen many weak points in their team. They are impressive in the way they keep the ball." Australia started their November series with a 32-8 win against Wales before beating Scotland 23-22 last weekend. They will then take on Ireland and England while France will face New Zealand. Team: 15-Scott Spedding, 14-Noa Nakaitaci, 13-Remi Lamerat, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Virimi Vakatawa, 10-Jean-Marc Doussain, 9-Maxime Machenaud, 8-Louis Picamoles, 7-Kevin Gourdon, 6-Charles Ollivon, 5-Yoann Maestri, 4-Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3-Uini Atonio, 2-Guilhem Guirado (captain), 1-Cyril Baille Replacements: 16-Camille Chat, 17-Xavier Chiocci, 18-Rabah Slimani, 19-Julien Le Devedec, 20-Damien Chouly, 21-Baptiste Serin, 22-Camille Lopez, 23-Gael Fickou (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)