Yachvili ruled out

RUGBY:SCRUMHALF Dimitri Yachvili has been ruled out of the French team which takes on Italy in the Six Nations in Rome tomorrow.

The Biarritz player has a thigh injury and will be replaced by Clermont-Auvergne’s Morgan Parra, who started in the wins over Scotland and Ireland.

Montpellier’s Julien Tomas has been called into the squad to provide cover.

France travel to the Eternal City looking to bounce back from their 17-9 defeat to England last month.

Italy prop Andrea Lo Cicero is relishing the prospect of taking on the French. Lo Cicero will start at the Stadio Flaminio where he will face some of his Racing Metro team-mates.

It will also mark Lo Cicero’s 85th appearance, making him the most capped player still competing for the Azzurri.

Italy are without a win this year and have never beaten France.

Hooker Carlo Festuccia has been included in the starting XV while Andrea Masi of Racing Metro replaces Luke McLean at fullback, Benetton Treviso’s Gonzalo Garcia makes a first start after missing most of the last 12 months through injury.

Tommaso Benvenuti earns his first start in the tournament on the right wing.

ITALY (v France): A Masi (Racing Metro); T Benvenuti (Treviso), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), G Garcia (Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français); L Orquera (Brive), F Semenzato (Treviso); A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), C Festuccia (Racing Metro), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Racing Metro), C Del Fava (Aironi), A Zanni (Treviso), R Barbieri (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais). Replacements: L Ghiraldini (Treviso), S Perugini (Aironi), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), P Derbyshire (Treviso), P Canavosio (Aironi), K Burton (Treviso), L McLean (Treviso).