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MARCOUSSIS, France - Sebastien Chabal will miss France's World Cup warm-up against England in Marseille on Saturday because of a sore calf muscle.
"It's nothing serious and Sebastien will start our following match against Wales in Cardiff," France manager Jo Maso told reporters after naming a 22-man squad at the French team's training camp outside Paris on Tuesday.
The powerful back rower scored the decisive try in France's 21-15 win last Sunday at Twickenham and was named man of the match despite playing only the last 20 minutes.
Prop Pieter de Villiers, who missed the Twickenham game with a calf injury, remains sidelined but Maso said he too should be fit to face Wales on Aug. 26.
Maso said France were still concerned about tighthead prop Sylvain Marconnet, who is struggling to recover form a shinbone operation after a skiing accident in March.
The France manager said a final decision on whether Marconnet can play at the World Cup would be made after medical checks on Thursday.
"We'll do everything to keep him with us but we don't want to take risks with his health," Maso said.
While England have promised to field their strongest lineup on Sunday, France will keep experimenting, notably using Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at halfback instead of Pierre Mignoni.
David Skrela, who was excellent at Twickenham, should be picked again at number 10 but Maso said Lionel Beauxis would then get a chance to prove his worth against Wales.
France suffered in the scrums and lineouts against England last Saturday but that did not worry Maso too much.
"Of course we have to win more ball but the fact that we managed to win at Twickenham even although we didn't get the ball that often is a very positive sign," he said.
The World Cup runs from September 7 to October 20.
Squad to face England:
Backs: Pierre Mignoni, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Frederic Michalak, David Skrela, Yannick Jauzion, Damien Traille, Christophe Dominici, Cedric Heymans, Aurelien Rougerie , Clement Poitrenaud.
Forwards: Olivier Milloud, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Nicolas Mas, Raphael Ibanez, Sebastien Bruno, Thierry Dusautoir, Fabien Pelous, Jerome Thion, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Imanol Harinordoquy, Yannick Nyanga.
- REUTERS
