Rodriguez unhappy with Yachvili call-up

Biarritz sporting manager Laurent Rodriguez has criticised Marc Lievremont’s decision to call Dimitri Yachvili into his RBS 6 Nations squad ahead of Saturday’s clash with Italy in Paris.

Scrum-half Yachvili was called up after Toulouse’s Frederic Michalak suffered a serious knee injury in his side’s 29-0 win over Stade Francais which could keep him out for up to 12 months.

But the half-back, who has been capped 41 times by his country, only returned from a knee injury of his own in Biarritz’s 21-20 victory over Toulon on Saturday.

And former Les Blues’ centre Rodriguez believes it is far too soon for the 29-year-old to return to the Test arena.

He told L’Equipe: “Dimitri has just returned from injury and we believe he is not fit to play an international match.

“We had planned to use him sparingly in training this week ahead of our game against Perpignan, but he will now train intensely with France.

“The only explanation of Marc Lievremont’s selection of Yachvili is that there are no others for him to choose from.”

Rodriguez also took the opportunity to take a swipe at the preparations used by the national squad, being particularly critical of their weights programme.

“Players are doing zero weights with the France team. When (prop) Fabien Barcella returned from playing in the autumn Tests, he had lost seven pounds because he had never lifted weights in Marcoussis (France’s training base).”