Paris: France will host the World Cup in five years time and coach Jacques Brunel appeared to have one eye on that objective with his opening Six Nations team selection against Ireland on Saturday.

The veteran handler plumped for teenage fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, a player to whom he handed a senior debut at Bordeaux-Begles less than five months ago before he was hired as France coach following the hurried sacking of Guy Noves in December.

While the French selectors will hope Brunel’s appointment brings about a change in playing fortunes, the 64-year-old seems to have maintained a search begun by Noves during his ill-fated two-year spell in charge: the quest to find a French equivalent of Jonny Wilkinson or Dan Carter.

At just 19 and with only 15 senior appearances under his belt, Jalibert appears to be a choice for the future despite Brunel’s insistence he wants to try and win the 2018 Six Nations title.

And even if he doesn’t turn out to be as good as a Wilkinson or Carter, Brunel believes Jalibert could at least emulate versatile former international half-back Frederik Michalak, a player who made his France debut 16 years ago, just a month after turning 19.

“Remember a certain Michalak, for whom everything went very quickly,” said Brunel.

“It’s a bit surprising: we’re not used to this kind of professional trajectory whereas the English picked (Owen) Farrell and (George) Ford very early.

“They didn’t ask questions, they gave them belief. We’re going to try to provide him (Jalibert) with the same conditions and we hope he’ll succeed in the same way as those I’ve just mentioned.”

It continues a trend in France over the last year in which a number of talented young half-backs have been thrust onto

the international arena.

France have won only one of their last seven matches against Ireland, who are lining up a starting XV with more than twice as many caps as their hosts.

Wales host Scotland

Wales hope the Scarlets’ winning formula can rub off and help Warren Gatland’s side to victory when they welcome a resurgent Scotland to Cardiff for their Six Nations opener on Saturday.

Head coach Gatland has named a team which contains 10 men from Llanelli -- the Scarlets players rewarded for their fine form in the domestic PRO14 and European Champions Cup tournaments this season.

Worcester’s Josh Adams, who has scored 13 tries for the Warriors this season, will make his debut on the wing after Wales decided against gambling on the fitness of George North, struggling with a knee problem, but the rest of the back division is made up of Scarlets.

Rhys Patchell is selected at fly-half with Hadleigh Parkes and Scott Williams the centre pairing.

“The Scarlets have got to the quarter-finals in Europe and there’s a group of them who have come in with confidence and belief as a collective which can definitely be a positive,” said Gatland.

“Those combinations played a big part in our selection. Rhys has has a good season and both he and Gareth Davies have trained particularly well over the last week,” he added.

“There was a healthy discussion about who we should pick, but we decided both of them had put their hands up. “Those two guys are familiar with each other’s play. That speeded up our preparation a little bit and hopefully it will get us off to a good start in the Six Nations,” the British and Irish Lions boss explained.

Leigh Halfpenny and Steffan Evans join 22-year-old Adams in the back three.

Agence France-Presse