France have followed the All Blacks' example by naming a predictable starting line-up for the first rugby Test in Dunedin on Saturday.

However, the tourists' bench is yet to be clarified as head coach Marc Lievremont named nine reserves, including late-arriving props Nicolas Mas and Thomas Domingo.

Mas and Domingo joined the squad only on late Monday after playing for Perpignan and Clermont Auvergne in the French domestic final in Paris last weekend.

The pair will be given another 48 hours to prove they have recovered from the exertion of the final and the arduous journey to Auckland.

Lievremont included only one new cap in the starting line-up, Leicester-based halfback Julien Dupuy.

Dupuy may be untried at international level but the 25-year-old has recent big-match experience in the Heineken Cup and Premiership finals.

"He has been very good with the forwards in practice and we are sure he can make the decisions on the ground," Lievremont said.

Dupuy will combine with five-eighth Francois Trinh-Duc in what is a brand new scrumbase pairing.

Five members of the 22-man squad were involved in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff, while second-rower Pascal Pape, reserve forward Sebastien Chabal and flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo were part of the French side hammered 61-10 in Wellington when the teams last met there two years ago.

Lievremont said the starting line-up was straight forward to select given the five players involved in the Top 14 final were delayed in joining the squad.

France have won only three Tests in 21 attempts on New Zealand soil since their first tour in 1961.

Since then, however, the Tricolores have proved an irritant for the All Blacks at the World Cup by ending New Zealand's campaign at the semi-finals in 1999 and quarter-finals 20 months ago.

France: Maxime Medard, Cedric Heymans, Mathieu Bastareaud, Vincent Clerc, Damien Traille, Francois Trinh-Duc, Julien Dupuy, Louis Picamoles, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Romain Millo-Chluski, Pascal Pape, Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat, Fa bien Barcella. Res: Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Thomas Domingo, Sebastien Chabal, Remy Martin, Julien Puricelli, Dimitri Yachvili, Yannick Jauzion, Alexis Palisson (two to be omitted).

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