Warburton back for Wales Slam bid

Wales' hopes of winning the Six Nations Grand Slam were given a boost on Thursday after inspirational captain Sam Warburton was declared fit for this weekend's clash with France. Marauding openside flanker Warburton comes into the side in place of Justin Tipuric in the only change from the team which defeated Italy last weekend. Warburton's return gives him the opportunity to make amends following his sending off against the French in the World Cup semi-final last year, which France won 9-8. Wales coach Warren Gatland has welcomed Warburton's return but insisted his team would not be overwhelmed by the occasion. "In camp, all we can and must do is make preparations as normal," Gatland said. "The magnitude of the game is not lost on us, but it is irrelevant to how we prepare. "We have our captain back, and although Justin Tipuric is unlucky after playing well in his place last week, Sam's presence is a welcome boost to everyone. "We are obviously aware of what this game means to the fans. "60,000 of them came to the Millennium Stadium during the Rugby World Cup to watch us face France in the semi-final on the television screens, and that tells you everything about how dedicated they are. "But this weekend we play in front of a sell-out 74,500 crowd with a chance to make history in Cardiff, and they will be there to watch us in the flesh. "They can make a real and positive contribution to the atmosphere and, like us, will be thinking of nothing other than the here and now." Gatland was under no illusion that France would offer some stiff resistance. "They're one of the top teams in the world," he said. "There've been a couple of close games against them, and we've contributed to our own downfall on a few of those, with a couple of intercept tries, a couple of yellow cards, a turnover chargedown. "We need to eliminate some of those things that have been costly. We just have to be accurate, take our chances and not concede any soft points, then we've got a good chance of winning." But he warned that winning the Grand Slam was not easy, citing the case of England, who have only won it once, in 2003, since the inception of professional rugby union in 1995. "It's a tough competition to win. You need to some luck and we've had a little bit of luck, you get a bit of confidence and momentum and you've got a chance," Gatland said. "For us, there's probably emotionally a lot more to play for considering they can't win the championship or Grand Slam, and a few weeks ago it was set up as a potential Grand Slam decider. "So maybe there's a little more mentally for us to play for and maybe that'll be the difference." Wales (15-1) Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), George North (Scarlets); Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Michael Phillips (Bayonne/FRA); Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), Dan Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons); Ian Evans (Ospreys), Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys); Adam Jones (Ospreys), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues) Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Perpignan/FRA), Scott Williams (Scarlets)