Maso: French flair must return

France team manager Jo Maso wants his side to rediscover the flair and pride that was missing against England when they take on Scotland in the final round of the Six Nations Championship on Saturday.

France’s Grand Slam hopes disappeared on Sunday when they were beaten 26-18 by the resurgent world champions at Twickenham, leaving the Six Nations title up for grabs heading into this weekend.

France have reacted to the defeat by dropping Sebastien Chabal and Dimitri Yachvili from the squad that will face the Scots in Paris.

Elvis Vermeulen comes in for Chabal at number eight while Jean-Baptiste Elissalde replaces Yachvili at scrum-half.

There is also room for Damien Traille in the 23-man squad. The versatile Biarritz star is included as cover with fly-half David Skrela struggling with a fibula injury suffered against England.

Maso has called on his players to show the kind of form that took France to Twickenham as the only unbeaten side in the tournament.

“We must win but in a good manner, with more attacking and less caution,” he said.

“We did not show enough desire, enough creativity (against England).

“To lose at Twickenham is okay, there is no shame, but you must lose with honour and that wasn’t the case.

“We are really hoping for more enthusiasm on Saturday.”

Maso went on to explain the reasons behind the ditching of Yachvili and Chabal.

“Dimitri must return to his best form. He mustn’t kid himself. That isn’t the case at the moment,” he added. “Perhaps he wanted to prove himself too much on Sunday against the English.

“Chabal has progressed a lot in these few months, and he has made his point in the Six Nations.

“In the end, there are more positives than negatives with him. But he has played three matches.

"Elvis is someone who interests us and it is logical that we rotate between the two of them.”

Head coach Bernard Laporte said at the outset of the tournament that all 40 of the players who were chosen in the initial squad would play at least one game in the Six Nations. He also said no player would feature in all five matches.

Injuries to the likes of lock Fabien Pelous and flanker Remy Martin, and the need to win on Saturday to claim the Six Nations title means this will not be possible.

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

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

“We always try to pick the best team possible,” Maso added.

“A lot of players were lacking playing time and we haven’t had the desire to make sweeping changes.

“What interests us now is playing the best possible team to beat Scotland. The aim remains to win the tournament.”

France are set to name their team to face Scotland tomorrow morning.