France centre Maxime Mermoz pulled out of Saturday's rugby Test with New Zealand on Monday because of a right thigh injury and was replaced by Toulouse winger Cedric Heymans.

Mermoz, capped five times the last of which was the impressive 20-13 victory over world champions South Africa earlier this month, underwent a scan which revealed the extent of the injury.

Heymans, 30-years-old and capped 53 times, also played against South Africa but was rested for last Saturday's victory over Samoa.

France squad:

Forwards

Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), William Servat (Toulouse), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Racing-Metro), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, cap), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Julien Puricelli (Bayonne)

Backs: Julien Dupuy (Stade Francais), Morgan Parra (Clermont), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Yann David (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse) Damien Traille (Biarritz), Maxime Medard (Toulouse)

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