Castres Olympique's Kockott, who won his first three caps last November against Fiji, Australia and Argentina, is deputising for Sebastien Tillous-Bordes, who was ruled out of the clash with an injury.
The 28-year-old will pair up with usual flyhalf Camille Lopez to form manager Philippe Saint-Andre's 14th starting halfback combination since the former France international took over from Marc Lievremont after the 2011 World Cup.
"It's logical (to choose Kockott) given our organisation in November. Rory has been able to work on his combinations with Camille Lopez these past two weeks," Saint-Andre told reporters.
Flanker Loann Goujon will be Saint-Andre's 80th player to feature for France if he comes off the bench.
With Alexandre Dumoulin ruled out through injury, Mathieu Bastareau will start at outside centre alongside Wesley Fofana.
Scott Spedding was named at fullback despite the return of Brice Dulin, who is back in the squad after an arm injury. Dulin had already missed the November test with a stress fracture.
Rabah Slimani will start at prop as the experienced Nicolas Mas did not even make the bench although Uini Atonio did.
France finished the Six Nations in fourth place last year, and were last in 2013.
Team: 15-Scott Spedding, 14-Yoann Huget, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Teddy Thomas, 10-Camille Lopez, 9-Rory Kockott, 8-Damien Chouly, 7-Bernard Le Roux, 6-Thierry Dusautoir, 5-Yoann Maestri, 4-Pascal Pape, 3-Rabah Slimani, 2-Guilhem Guirado, 1-Alexandre Menini
Replacements: 16-Benjamin Kayser, 17-Uini Atonio, 18-Eddy Ben Arous, 19-Romain Taofifenua, 20-Loann Goujon, 21-Morgan Parra, 22-Remi Tales, 23-Remi Lamerat
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly and Ken Ferris)
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