Chabal and Yachvili dropped for vital clash

Sebastien Chabal and Dimitri Yachvili have been dropped from France’s squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash with Scotland on Saturday.

The pair struggled in the 26-18 defeat to England on Sunday, and Les Bleus have opted to bring in Elvis Vermeulen for Sale’s Chabal at number eight and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde for Yachvili at scrum-half.

Biarritz star Damien Traille, who is yet to make an appearance in the Six Nations, is one of three centres included in an enlarged 23-man squad for the Stade de France encounter.

If fly-half David Skrela fails to recover from a fibula injury in time, Lionel Beauxis will be named at number 10 and the versatile Traille will be back-up in that position.

The starting XV will be named tomorrow morning.

France go into the final round of matches level on six points with both England and Ireland after four games.

With England having an inferior points difference, it looks set to be a shoot-out between Ireland and the French for the title.

Ireland play Italy in Rome on Saturday.

France squad for Saturday’s match against Scotland:

Forwards: R Ibanez (Wasps, capt), S Bruno (Sale), O Milloud (Bourgoin), N Mas (Perpignan), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), L Nallet, P Pape (both Castres), J Thion, S Betsen (both Biarritz), J Bonnaire (Bourgoin), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne).

Backs: P Mignoni (Clermont-Auvergne), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse), D Skrela, L Beauxis (both Stade Francais), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), D Marty (Perpignan), D Traille (Biarritz), C Heymans (Toulouse), C Dominici (Stade Francais), V Clerc, C Poitrenaud (Toulouse).