Yachvili drafted in by Les Bleus

France have called Dimitri Yachvili into their squad for the RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy after Frederic Michalak was forced out by a knee injury.

Fly-half Michalak was forced off after injuring himself tackling Scotland back Hugo Southwell in the second minute of Toulouse’s 29-0 win away to Stade Francais in the Top 14 yesterday.

The 27-year-old told Canal Plus: “I felt a crack when I tried to tackle the Paris player. There was a crack at the outside of the knee. We will have to do tests to find out exactly what happened.”

Biarritz scrum-half Yachvili only returned from a knee injury of his own in yesterday’s 21-20 defeat at Toulon.

The 29-year-old has 40 caps to his name but has not featured since the summer tour of the southern hemisphere last year, with Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc forming Marc Lievremont’s first-choice half-back pairing and Michalak or Julien Dupuy deputising.