France youngster Vincent 'ticks all the boxes' for coach Galthie

France head coach Fabien Galthie said on Friday Arthur Vincent "ticks all the boxes" as the 20-year-old centre was selected to replace Virimi Vakatawa in the starting line-up against Italy in the Six Nations this weekend. Vakatawa, 27, who has scored seven tries for Racing 92 this season, was ruled out earlier in the day with a triceps problem suffered in the thrilling 24-17 win over England. Double world under-20 champion Vincent, who captained the youth side to the title last year, is set to make his first Test start on Sunday after coming off the bench for the final 30 seconds against England. "He has the perfect trajectory. He ticks all the boxes in terms of his evolution with the French youth teams and now with the professionals. Everything seems natural, easy for him," Galthie said. "He's trained really well with us. To put it simply we expect him to be himself, to bring the strong aspects to his play. His maturity and his youth too," he added. After Vincent's promotion, Toulon lock Romain Taofifenua comes onto the bench for an unusual 6-2 split between forwards and backs. "The option had been studied before playing England. We decided in the week to move to 6-2, to bring Romain in to have two second-rows with more hybrid profiles along with Boris Palu who covers 4,5,6 and 7," Galthie said. "Romain for three weeks has shown a big investment and big presence in training. He deserves his place in the team lineup," he added. - Hayward in for Italy - Galthie's Azzurri counterpart in South African Franco Smith also made just one change to his starting line-up after last weekend's 42-0 loss at Wales. Experienced 32-year-old Jayden Hayward has recovered from a foot injury to play full-back as Matteo Minozzi moves to the wing and Leonardo Sarto drops out of the squad entirely. "If he was fully fit for the Wales game he would have started as well then," Smith told AFP. "I don't think Sarto had an off day I just think Jayden brings a complete all-round skill-set and that's what we need this week," he added. Among the visitors' substitutes, 18-time international lock Federico Ruzza replaces 22-year-old Giovanni Licata and winger Giulio Bisegni takes Hayward's spot with the substitutes. Italy head to the French capital having lost each of their last 23 Six Nations matches. France (15-1): Anthony Bouthier; Teddy Thomas, Arthur Vincent, Gael Fickou, Vincent Rattez; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont; Gregory Alldritt, Charles Ollivon (capt), Francois Cros; Paul Willemse, Bernard Le Roux; Mohamed Haouas, Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille Replacements: Peato Mauvaka, Jefferson Poirot, Demba Bamba, Romain Taofifenua, Boris Palu, Cameron Woki, Baptiste Serin, Matthieu Jalibert Italy (15-1): Jayden Hayward; Mattia Bellini, Luca Morisi, Carlo Canna, Matteo Minozzi; Tommaso Allan, Callum Braley; Braam Steyn, Sebastian Negri, Jake Polledri; Niccolo Cannone, Alessandro Zanni; Giosue Zilocchi, Luca Bigi (capt), Andrea Lovotti Replacements: Federico Zani, Danilo Fischetti, Marco Riccioni, Dean Budd, Federico Ruzza, Giovanni Licata, Guglielmo Palazzani, Giulio Bisegni Centre Arthur Vincent has scored once in 17 Montpellier appearances this season Jayden Hayward has made 24 Test appearances for Italy since his 2017 debut