In the absence of O'Driscoll, the side will be lead on this historic occasion by Munster skipper Paul O'Connell.

Ireland: Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, A.N. Other, Gordon DArcy, Denis Hickie; Ronan OGara, A.N. Other; Marcus Horan, Rory Best, John Hayes; Donncha OCallaghan, Paul OConnell; Simon Easterby, David Wallace, Denis Leamy.      

Replacements: Jerry Flannery, Simon Best, Mick ODriscoll, Neil Best or Jamie Heaslip,  Isaac Boss or Eoin Reddan, Paddy Wallace, Geordan Murphy or  Andrew Trimble.

France: Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse),  David Marty (Perpignan),  Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse),  Christophe Dominici (Stade Français);  David Skréla (Stade Français),  Pierre Mignoni (Clermont Auvergne);  Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français), Raphaël Ibañez (London Wasps) (captain),  Pieter de Villiers (Stade Français); Pascal Papé, Lionel Nallet;  Serge Betsen (Biarritz),
Imañol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Sebastian Chabal (Sale Sharks).   Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru (Sale Sharks), 17 Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), 18 Jérôme Thion (Biarritz), 19 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), 20 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), 21 Lionel Beauxis (Stade Français), 22 Cédric Heymans (Toulouse).

Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Peter Allan (Scotland)