Jacques Brunel has insisted he has dropped Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez on merit and not insubordination after selecting teen star Romain Ntamack at fly-half for France.
Toulouse's 19-year-old playmaker Ntamack will make his first Test start in the number 10 shirt when France host Scotland in Saturday's Six Nations clash in Paris, with Antoine Dupont slotting in at scrum-half.
Parra and Lopez criticised France's management in the wake of their shambolic 44-8 loss to England at Twickenham on Sunday, February 10.
Embattled head coach Brunel announced France's team two days early on Tuesday in a bid to wrestle back control of Les Bleus' listing ship - but was immediately on the defensive over omitting Parra and Lopez.
When asked if Parra and Lopez had been left out of France's 23 to face Scotland in punishment for their criticism, Brunel replied: "I'm telling you it's not the case; ask them, ask their team-mates.
"Given our performance (against England) we needed to change things, it's a sporting choice."
Toulouse duo Dupont and Ntamack, son of former French wing Emile, have just 13 caps between them, as opposed to the combined 92 of Parra and Lopez.
Yoann Huget returns to the wing after his disastrous outing at full-back against England, with Gael Fickou also back in the centres after struggling on the wing in that Twickenham debacle.
— FF Rugby (@FFRugby) 19 February 2019
France team to play Scotland
Forwards: 1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Guilhem Guirado (Captain), 3 Demba Bamba, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5 Felix Lambey, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Arthur Iturria, 8 Louis Picamoles
Backs: 9 Antoine Dupont, 10 Romain Ntamack, 11 Yoann Huget, 12 Gael Fickou, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 14 Damian Penaud, 15 Thomas Ramos
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Gregory Alldritt, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Maxime Medard