By Cathal Dervan

French have identified Sunday’s Croke Park clash with Ireland as make or break in their bid to retain the Six Nations crown -– and coach Bernard Laporte has made five changes from the side that thumped Italy 39-3 in Rome last Saturday.

Center David Marty replaces the injured Florian Fritz (leg), Vincent Clerc is named on the wing instead of Toulouse teammate Cedric Heymans while Stade Francais prop Sylvain Marconnet comes in for Olivier Milloud.

Lock Jerome Thion, struggling with a knee injury, is replaced by Pascal Pape and Biar-ritz’s Imanol Harinordoquy is preferred to Julien Bonnaire in the back row.

Laporte said, “We were satisfied with the first match in Italy but we want to change things around in the side. The players who will start on Sunday will be very keen to demonstrate they are as good as the ones who won in Rome.”

Croke Park will host Sunday’s historic game and the sense of occasion will not be lost on Les Bleus hooker Raphael Ibanez, who is set to captain his country again with Fabien Pelous still out injured.

“We are fully aware of the history of Croke Park,” said the Wasps front-row forward.

“It’s going to be one of the toughest ever games for France. It is a fantastic chance for the team, and will be another step forward for the French side.

“There was a lot of talk before the game about Italy and their strength, their forward pack. But we had a very good defense and we stopped Italy playing how everyone knows they can play.”

The France team to play Ireland at Croke Park on Sunday is: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais); David Skrela (Stade Francais), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont-Auvergne); Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Raphael Ibanez (Wasps, capt.), Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet, Pascal Pape (both Castres), Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy (both Biarritz), Sebastien Chabal (Sale).

Replacements: Sebastien Bruno (Sale), Olivier Milloud (Bour-goin), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Julien Bon-naire (Bourgoin), Dimitri Yachvili (Biar-ritz), Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).