France recall first five Michalak 

First five Frederic Michalak was recalled to France's 30-man squad on Thursday for the match against South Africa next month.

The Toulouse player has not appeared for his country since the 50-8 win over Italy in March, and that was his only game for France since the 2007 World Cup.

"(Lionel) Beauxis's (hand) injury forced us to find another number 10," coach Marc Lievremont told a news conference. "He (Michalak) has 51 caps and we hope he will show us his true colours."

Lievremont decided to omit centre Mathieu Bastareaud, who apologised on Tuesday for lying about being assaulted after a 14-10 defeat by New Zealand in Wellington in June.

"We did not call Bastareaud despite his statement. It would have been better if he had done it before," the coach said.

"But water will go under the bridge and if his performances are good I hope he will be back with the French squad." France host the Springboks on Nov. 13. Lievremont said he could make changes to his squad for the game against Samoa eight days later and the match with New Zealand on Nov. 28.

Forwards: Fabien Barcella, Thomas Domingo, Nicolas Mas, Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Alexandre Lapandry, Romain Millo-Chluski, Pascal Pape, Sebastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet, Luc Ducalcon, Thierry Dusautoir, Antoine Burban, Louis Picamoles, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Imanol Harinordoquy.

Backs: Julien Dupuy, Morgan Parra, Francois Trinh-Duc, David Marty, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Mermoz, Maxime Medard, Cedric Heymans, Vincent Clerc, Benjamin Fall, Yann David, Frederic Michalak, Damien Traille.

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