Blister rules Fritz out

France centre Florian Fritz was on Friday ruled out of his country's final Six Nations match with Scotland at the Stade de France on Saturday.

The 29-year-old 29-times capped Toulouse star failed to recover from a left foot infection and has been replaced on the replacements bench by the uncapped Gael Fickou.

"Florian Fritz will not be fit for Saturday," said a French team spokesman.

"He has a blister that has infected his left foot. He has been replaced by Gael Fickou."

Fritz, who started the 13-13 draw with Ireland last Saturday, had been unable to train since last Monday.

Fickou, 18, had been called up for the pre-Six Nations preparations but has played for the Under-20 side during the tournament.

France need to beat Scotland to give themselvees a chance of avoiding their first wooden spoon since 1999 and their first in the Six Nations.

France - revised: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 6 Antonie Claassen, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo.

Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Christophe Samson, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Gael Fickou.

Date: Saturday, March 16

Venue: Stade de France, Paris

Kick-off: 21.00 (20.00 GMT)

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

TMO: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

AFP