Vincent won his first cap off the bench last week, coming on for 30 seconds of France's 24-17 win against England.

But he will start in Paris because Vakatawa has a triceps injury.

Jayden Hayward starts at full-back in the only change for Italy.

Matteo Minozzi moves from full-back to the left wing to make way for Hayward, with Mattia Bellini moving across to the right wing to replace Leonardo Sarto, who drops out of the matchday 23.

Carlo Canna, usually a fly-half, remains at inside centre with Tommaso Allan at 10, while Italy's pack is unchanged after last week's 42-0 thrashing by Wales.

"The debut against Wales served as a lesson," said new Italy coach Franco Smith. "We are trying to improve our mechanisms and trying to show the best version of ourselves. It will be a tough game on Sunday."

France dominated the first half against England in Galthie's first game as head coach last weekend, at one stage opening up a 17-point lead.

"We have kept faith in the team that beat England," Galthie said. "We had no reason to question those players.

"Arthur Vincent is a player who has the perfect career path and he's trained really well with us."

Two-time under-20 world champion Vincent will partner Gael Fickou in the centre, with Damian Penaud absent having been ruled out of the England game with a calf injury.

Toulon lock Romain Taofifenua is brought into the replacements and full-back Anthony Bouthier and prop Mohamed Haouas, who earned their first caps last week, remain in the starting line-up.

Scrum-half Antoine Dupont, 23, unsurprisingly retains his starting place after impressing against England and is joined by Romain Ntamack at fly-half.

Line-ups

France: Bouthier; Thomas, Vincent, Fickou, Rattez; Ntamack, Dupont; Baille, Marchand, Haouas, Le Roux, Willemse, Cros, Ollivon (c), Alldritt.

Replacements: Mauvaka, Poirot, Bamba, Taofifenua, Palu, Woki, Serin, Jalibert.

Italy: Hayward; Bellini, Morisi, Canna, Minozzi; Allan, Braley; Lovotti, Bigi (c), Zilocchi, Zanni, Cannone, Polledri, Negri, Steyn.

Replacements: Zani, Fischetti, Riccioni, Budd, Ruzza, Licata, Palazzani, Bisegni.