Elissalde ruled out of France’s trip to Scotland

JEAN-BAPTISTE ELISSALDE is out of France’s RBS Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield – and is likely to miss Saturday’s week crunch clash with Ireland.

His place for Sunday’s Murrayfield clash goes to Toulouse team-mate Frederic Michalak. It is the latest in a long line of injury problems for Les Bleus, who already had to make do without Biarritz trio Fabien Barcella, Damien Traille and Dimitri Yachvili before Sebastien Chabal and Romain Millo-Chluski were ruled out.

It is also a huge blow for Elissalde who, having been named as a replacement, was on the verge of making his first appearance for France since 2008 before pulling up with a calf injury.