France
coach Marc Lièvremont has called up Biarritz scrum-half
Dimitri Yachvili after Frederic Michalak became the latest
player to go down injured.
Michalak, 27, had come on as a second-half replacement in
all three of France's games in the RBS Six Nations, but his
season has now been ended after tearing the cruciate
ligament in his left knee while tackling Stade Francais'
Hugo Southwell on Saturday.
Michalak
himself was a late addition to the French squad after club
colleague Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was forced out with
injury.
And
Elissalde, likewise, was only called up because Julien Dupuy
(suspended), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (injured) and Yachvili
(injured) were unavailable.
Scotland 9 France 18 /
France 33 Ireland 10
Forty-times capped Yachvili, 29, made his playing comeback
on Saturday in Biarritz's 21-20 defeat at Toulon - scoring a
try and kicking 10 points - and now finds himself parachuted
immediately back into the national squad.
Michalak is now expected to be out for
between six to nine months as he recovers from the injury.
"I felt a crack when I tried to tackle a Paris player," he
explained. "It cracked at the outside of the knee."
The
injury is a cruel blow to the player after he had finally
appeared to be re-settling back into the French squad, as
cover for No 1 choice Morgan Parra. But now he will have to
wait to add to his 54 caps, with both Stade Toulousain and
France counting the cost of yet another player lost through
injury.
Stade
Toulousain boss Guy Noves said it was the same injury which
kept Vincent Clerc out for nearly a year and confirmed that
Michalak would have surgery on Wednesday.
France
are due to play Italy on March 14 and England on March 20,
with both games in Paris as they chase the Grand Slam.
