Scrum half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde has been forced out of the France team and replaced on the bench by Toulouse team-mate Frederic Michalak, team management said on Thursday.

Elissalde, who was named among the replacements for the Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, left the training ground early Thursday to undergo scans after complaining of soreness in a calf.

"Yesterday at training I felt a pain, which didn't seem that acute, in the calf. I thought it was just a strain. Then this morning I got up and had trouble moving my leg and walking," explained Elissalde, 32 and with 35 caps under his belt.

"Doctors took me off for a check-up and that revealed a soleus (muscle) injury," he went on, adding he was unlikely to be ready for France's second match against Ireland on February 13 at Stade de France.

"I will have to wait until Monday for more information on the nature of the injury. For the following weekend (against Ireland) it looks pretty bad," said Elissalde, who had only just returned to the fold for their first time since November 2008.

Michalak, 27, with 51 caps, is due to link up with the squad either later Thursday or early Friday.

France had already lost the services through injury of second rowers Romain Millo-Chluski and Sebastien Chabal.

France head coach Marc Lievremont will have controversial centre Mathieu Bastareaud in the side for the Scotland encounter.

The Stade Francais man made waves on the summer tour of New Zealand after he claimed he was attacked on a night out in Wellington. It was later claimed he had fallen over drunk in his hotel room.

Team to face Scotland (15 to 1):

Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Benjamin Fall (Bayonne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, cap.); Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro); Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), William Servat (Toulouse), Thomas Domingo (Clermont)

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Franais)

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