Noves says France door open to ousted Dulin

Noves has not picked 26-year-old Dulin, who has 24 caps, since taking over the role following the 2015 World Cup, preferring instead his former charge at Toulouse, Maxime Medard, and South African-born Scott Spedding.

And even though Spedding pulled out of this week's three-day France training camp, Noves still didn't bring in Dulin, saying his Racing 92 side was already depleted enough by four other international call-ups.

"I really do watch his matches and follow his progression," said Noves, who coached Toulouse for 22 years before taking over the France reins.

"His name has come up but there are also teams playing in the Top 14 who have lots of players involved, so I don't want to pillage the clubs.

"But if Spedding is out [of the November tests], there's a good chance Brice Dulin will join us with Max Medard, so he's not been ditched at all.

"He is right to keep working hard, I would never close the door to the French team to anyone.

"But the performance obligations that we've set mean that if we want to achieve our aims, we have to work as much as possible with the same players."

France host Samoa on November 12 before playing Australia and New Zealand the following two weeks.

Les Bleus have won just three of seven internationals since Noves took over and finished a disappointing fifth in the Six Nations earlier this year.

Agence France-Presse