SIX NATIONS NEWS ROUND-UP:FRANCE COACH Marc Lievremont again overlooked outhalf Frederic Michalak when he named a 30-man squad yesterday for the Six Nations tournament next month. The gifted but erratic Michalak (26), won the last of his 50 caps in the World Cup third-place play-off defeat by Argentina in October 2007.
Michalak, who returned to Toulouse last year after a spell in South Africa with the Natal Sharks, has plenty of talent but is often criticised for his poor goalkicking. “For me, Fred is more of a scrumhalf but he currently plays at outhalf at Toulouse and for me, in that position, he’s behind guys like Lionel Beauxis and David Skrela at the moment,” Lievremont said.
With Skrela out injured, Beauxis is the only genuine outhalf in the group, although Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, originally a scrumhalf, often plays at number 10 for Toulouse.
Midfield duo Yannick Jauzion and Benoit Baby can also fill in at pivot at a push, but playing there on the international stage may be beyond them.
Beauxis missed most of last season because of injury and has been playing at fullback for the majority of this campaign, making Lievremont’s decision not to include a genuine back-up for the Stade playmaker even more bizarre.
“At number 10, even if there are versatile players in the centres, there is only one specialist,” he said. “Even if he plays sometimes at fullback for his club, Lionel Beauxis is a number 10 for us. We are not going to talk about whether it is a negative or an advantage he is not playing in his position. That is also the case for others. For us, he is a number 10.”
Elsewhere, there are few surprises in Lievremont’s squad, which will be trimmed to 23 names following the training camp that is being held from Monday to Wednesday.
Fullback Clement Poitrenaud and centre Florian Fritz, both Toulouse players, return after spells in the wilderness while winger Aurelien Rougerie is also back after injury.
However, Vincent Clerc, France’s leading try-scorer in last season’s Six Nations, misses out as he continues to get his match sharpness back after a lengthy absence because of a knee injury.
SIX NATIONS SQUADS
SCOTLAND
BACKS: Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Perpignan), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Max Evans (Glasgow), Thom Evans (Glasgow), Phil Godman (Edinburgh), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow), Sean Lamont (Northampton), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow), Dan Parks (Glasgow), Chris Paterson, Hugo Southwell, Simon Webster (all Edinburgh).
FORWARDS: John Barclay (Glasgow), Kelly Brown (Glasgow), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Scott Gray (Northampton), Dougie Hall (Glasgow), Craig Hamilton (Edinburgh), Jim Hamilton (Edinburgh), Nathan Hines (Perpignan), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow), Euan Murray (Northampton), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Simon Taylor (Stade Francais), Jason White (Sale).
WALES
BACKS: Lee Byrne (Ospreys), Mark Jones (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys), Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), Gavin Henson (Ospreys), James Hook (Ospreys), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Gareth Cooper (Gloucester), Mike Phillips (Ospreys).
FORWARDS: Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), John Yapp (Cardiff Blues), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Rhys Thomas (Newport Gwent Dragons), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Lee Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Dafydd Jones (Scarlets), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Robin Sowden-Taylor (Cardiff Blues).
FRANCE
BACKS: Maxime Medard, Clement Poitrenaud, Cedric Heymans (all Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive), Julien Malzieu, Aurelien Rougerie (both Clermont-Auvergne), Yannick Jauzion, Florian Fritz (both Toulouse), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin).
FORWARDS: Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles (both Montpellier), Damien Chouly (Perpignan), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Lionel Nallet (Castres), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Faure (Sale), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Fabien Lecouls (Toulouse).
