Six Nations: France named Frederic Michalak at flyhalf today for their Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday despite a painful groin injury.
"Frederic has been in pain for a month but he has played very good games with Toulouse in the Heineken Cup and the French championship and we are confident he will be at his best," said team manager Jo Maso.
Coach Bernard Laporte made only three changes to the team who defeated South Africa in the last game of France's unbeaten November series.
Captain and lock Fabien Pelous, who missed the 26-20 win over the Springboks because of a nine-week suspension, returns to the starting line-up. Wing Christophe Dominici and fullback Nicolas Brusque replace Aurelien Rougerie and Thomas Castaignede, who were not available because of injuries.
France team to face Scotland: 15-Nicolas Brusque; 14-Cedric Heymans, 13-Florian Fritz, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Christophe Dominici; 10-Frederic Michalak, 9-Jean-Baptiste Elissalde; 8-Julien Bonnaire, 7-Remy Martin, 6-Yannick Nyanga; 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Fabien Pelous (captain); 3-Pieter de Villiers, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 1-Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16-Sebastien Bruno, 17-Sylvain Marconnet, 18-Lionel Nallet, 19-Thomas Lievremont, 20-Dimitri Yachvili, 21-Benjamin Boyet, 22-Ludovic Valbon.
