The 10 France players ruled out of the Scotland game with Covid-19

The news that five more France players have tested positive for the coronavirus takes the total number of players in the squad to have contracted Covid-19 to ten.

France's head coach Fabien Galthie, right, and star scrum-half Antoine Dupont have both tested positive for Covid-19. Picture: Brian LawlessAFP via Getty Images

All will miss the Guinness Six Nations match against Scotland in Paris on Sunday.

Eight of the ten started in France’s opening two Six Nations matches this season, the away wins over Italy and Ireland which put them top of the table.

The French Rugby Federation has also confirmed that a further two unnamed members of the management team are suspected cases.

France captain Charles Ollivon will miss the match against Scotland. Picture: Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

Head coach Fabien Galthie, his assistant William Servat and lineout coach Karim Ghezal have already tested positive and are isolating.

France named a 31-man squad for the Scotland match on Sunday but have since had to draft in five new players to replace the latest five who have contracted Covid-19.

The ten France players who will miss the Scotland match due to coronavirus are:

Charles Ollivon

Brice Dulin has been a potent try threat for France recently and scored against England in the Autumn Nations Cup Final at Twickenham in December. Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images

France’s captain and the hero of last season’s Six Nations win over England. The Toulon flanker scored two tries in the 24-17 victory over Eddie Jones’ side in what was his first game as skipper.

Cyril Baille

The loosehead prop played in both of France’s opening Six Nations matches this season, helping them to wins over Italy and Ireland

Peato Mauvaka

Toulouse hooker has not featured in this season’s Six Nations but was set to be included in the matchday squad to face Scotland after first-choice No 2 Julien Marchand tested positive last week.

Romain Taofifenua

The Toulon second-row was on the bench for France in the wins over Italy and Ireland.

Brice Dulin

The La Rochelle man is France’s first-choice full-back and scored a try in the win in Rome.

Antoine Dupont

The scrum-half was last season’s Player of the Six Nations and is seen as the outstanding talent in the France team and arguably the best player in the world. A huge loss.

Julien Marchand

France’s hooker in the victories over Italy and Ireland this month. Likely to be replaced by La Rochelle’s Pierre Bourgarit against Scotland.

Mohamed Haouas

Another first pick from France’s first two Six Nations matches this season. The tighthead prop plays for Montpellier.

Arthur Vincent

Scored a try in the 50-10 win over Italy in Rome in the opening game of the Championship and the Montpellier centre also played in the win over Ireland in Dublin.

Gabin Villiere

The Toulon winger also started for France in the Six Nations wins over Italy and Ireland.

In addition, two other players — lock Swann Rebbadj and prop Jean-Baptiste Gros — have been left out of the squad after being considered to have been in contact with two team-mates from Toulon who tested positive.

The five new additions to the France squad are: Gaetan Balot, Thierry Paiva, Cyril Cazeaux, Baptiste Pesenti and Thomas Ramos.

A statement from the French federation said: “Following RT-PCR tests carried out on Sunday February 21, five new players tested positive for Covid-19, leading to the selection of five new players to prepare for the match against Scotland.”

A message from the Editor:

Get a year of unlimited access to all of The Scotsman's sport coverage without the need for a full subscription. Expert analysis of the biggest games, exclusive interviews, live blogs, transfer news and 70 per cent fewer ads on Scotsman.com - all for less than £1 a week. Subscribe to us today