Scrum-half Frederic Michalak confirmed Sunday he has been ruled out of France's Six Nations clash against Italy next weekend because of a knee injury. The Toulouse player will be replaced in the France line-up by Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili.
Michalak injured himself just two minutes into Toulouse's Top 14 league game against Stade Francais on Saturday and was stretchered off and replaced by New Zealand's Byron Kelleher.
"I felt a crack when I tried to tackle a Paris player," said Michalak after the game which Toulouse won 29-0. "It cracked at the outside of the knee. We'll do tests to see exactly what happened."
Yachvili, who has 40 caps, has not been called up since late 2009.
The 29-year-old made his return after two months out with a knee injury in Saturday's 21-20 loss at Toulon.
France are the only team in the running for the Grand Slam and play Italy on March 14 and England on March 20.
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