LYON - Recognisable and unfamiliar faces inhabit the French side in equal proportion.
Captain Fabien Pelous, props Pieter de Villiers and Sylvain Marconnet with backs Damien Traille, Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Dominici and Aurelien Rougerie have been regular All Black foes, as they will be tomorrow in Lyon.
Otherslike Dimitri Yachvili and Julien Bonnaire keep popping up.
But coach Bernard Laporte has unearthed, revived or been forced to pick others who have not been regular names during the 77 tests he has controlled the French side.
Fullback Julien Laharrague plays with his brother for the Perpignan club, one which has also promoted New Zealand loosehead prop Perry Freshwater into the England test side tomorrow. Laharrague has a reputation as a risk-taker, someone who has been given carte blanche by Laporte but but can be as injudicious as he is productive.
Florian Fritz plays centre with 12 on his jersey and has the advantage of playing alongside his Toulouse club midfield partner Yannick Jauzion.
Fritz is nuggety, a player with an attacking mindset who has good pace and a sweet pass.
No 8 Elvis Vermeulen played the last of his three tests three years ago. A naturally powerful, driving player, he got by on talent but did not put in enough conditioning work at his club, Montferrand.
But last year and this, he has responded to the demands of both Laporte and former Bay of Plenty and Crusaders coach Vern Cotter, who is coaching his club side.
Vermeulen has shed 10kg and, at 107kg, is reportedly in dynamic form.
Fellow loose forward Thierry Dusautoir has moved to Toulouse from the defending club champion side Biarritz. An engineer in civil life, he has taken the place of the ageing and out-of-form Serge Betsen.
Dusautoir ranges widely as a dependable support player and is noted for his strong tackling.
Alongside Pelous in the second row is Pascal Pape, the workhorse lock, described as a similar player to former All Black captain Todd Blackadder.
He is not a tall man but mobile and hits plenty of rucks and mauls.
Physically, a blond mane singles out hooker Dimitri Szarzewski.
He loves to pick and go with the ball and is an explosive player round the field.
But Szarzewski does not have a reliable history as a lineout thrower - and opponents have been able to expose that frailty.
