Tillous-Borde and Michalak left out for England test

Half-backs Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Frederic Michalak have been left out of France coach Philippe Saint-Andre's 25-man squad for next weekend's World Cup warm-up against England at Twickenham.

Saint-Andre has kept scrum-halves Rory Kockott and Morgan Parra, as well as fly-halves Remi Tales and Francois Trinh-Duc for Les Bleus' first pre-World Cup warm-up clash.

Saint-Andre insisted it didn't mean either Tillous-Borde or Michalak were out of contention for making his final 31-man World Cup squad, though.

Tillous-Borde, 30, is coming back from a knee injury while Saint-Andre believes Michalak, 32, needs rest.

"He was injured a lot with Toulon this last season," said Saint-Andre of the 71-capped Michalak.

"He hasn't had any niggles in preparation but we wanted to give him another week."

Some of the 11 players left out of the squad being taken to London are those from Top 14 finalists Stade Francais and Clermont, whose season only finished on June 13.

One who wasn't involved in that game is France captain Thierry Dusautoir, who misses out due to a knee problem.

Following Saturday's match, France will host England at the Stade de France a week later and then begin their World Cup campaign against Italy at Twickenham on September 19.

France 25-man squad to face England

Forwards (14): Uini Atonio, Xavier Chiocci, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Rabah Slimani, Guilhem Guirado, Dimitri Szarzewski, Alexandre Flanquart, Yoann Maestri, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Yannick Nyanga, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Loann Goujon, Louis Picamoles

Backs (11): Rory Kockott, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Francois Trinh-Duc, Alexandre Dumoulin, Gael Fickou, Remi Lamerat, Brice Dulin, Sofiane Guitoune, Yoann Huget, Scott Spedding
Source: AFP