Monday 11 March 2019 10:55, UK
Prop Jefferson Poirot and flanker Wenceslas Lauret will miss France's final match in the Six Nations after picking up injuries against Ireland over the weekend.
Poirot and Lauret both sustained knee injuries during Sunday's 26-14 loss in Dublin and have been replaced in the France squad by Dany Priso and Kelian Galletier.
France has won only one match in the championship this year, a 27-10 win over Scotland in Paris. They travel to Rome to play Italy on Saturday low on confidence after a disappointing performance against Ireland.
Les Bleus, who are ranked eighth in the world, were outmuscled and outthought during a limp first half that saw Ireland open a 19-0 lead, before two late tries by Yoann Huget and Camille Chat put some gloss on the final scoreline.
"All their top players had come off, they had stopped playing," flanker Arthur Iturria said after the defeat - France's 11th in 15 tests - at the Aviva stadium.
"It's useless to say that we are not far from these teams. We will not win against them by playing the rugby we've been playing."
France were completely dominated in possession and territory and barely held the ball in the opening half.
"Clearly, today, we don't have what it takes (to compete with the best)," said lock Felix Lambey.
"We were trapped in our own half. Personally I did not touch the ball, just like everyone in the team. We were like 'let's not concede a try', never like 'we're going to score points'."
"It was a weird feeling. It's like we could not get out of our own half,'" said centre Gael Fickou.
Captain Guilhem Guirado added: "They gave us a lesson on how to keep the ball, it was impossible to steal it from them."
