FRENCH LOCK FORWARD Pascal Pape will miss the rest of France’s Six Nations campaign to fully recover from a back injury, he said on his Twitter account today.
Pape picked up the injury while he was captain of the side that lost 23-18 to Italy in Rome on 3 February.
At first it was thought he would be out of action for a fortnight, but it has taken longer for him to regain full fitness and his target is now to be back playing for his club side Stade Francais for the trip to Toulouse on 23 March.
That means he will miss France’s two remaining games in the Six Nations — away to Ireland on 9 March and at home to Scotland on 16 March.
In his absence, the captaincy has reverted to flanker Thierry Dusautoir in Dublin, but the French have lost to both Wales and England and are now facing a struggle to avoid the tournament wooden spoon.
