As a result he has been dropped to the bench as one of eight changes by Saint-André in an effort to end a run of five Championship games without a win.

François Trinh-Duc will start in his place, and Saint-André insists the decision is to do with giving the Montpellier fly-half a chance to show what he can do.

Saint-André said: “We wanted to change the half-backs but it’s not a sanction. Frederic Michalak has started the last six games for France.

“He’s finding it a little tougher at the moment but it’s not a punishment. He has played some very good matches. After the first two matches and having spoken to each of the players who can play at half-back, I think it was important to take a little bit of pressure of Frederic.

“And from the moment we decided that we wanted to play François Trinh-Duc at fly-half, it made sense to start Morgan Parra. He is a world class goal-kicker. That pairing provide some guarantees. They are used to playing together.”