Sébastien Chabal has been left out of France's provisional 32-man squad for the World Cup in September.
The 33-year-old No8 was recently suspended for a fortnight after claiming that referees in the domestic Top 14 competition are biased towards Castres and Biarritz, and was also one of the six players dropped by the France coach, Marc Lièvremont, after the embarrassing defeat to Italy earlier this year.
Chabal is still waiting to learn his fate over the referee remarks, but now looks set to miss out on the sport's showpiece event in New Zealand later this year. The Toulouse centre Yannick Jauzion, another dropped after the Italy upset, has also been left out.
Lièvremont and his back-room staff have included three players who are currently injured, in the hope that they may have recovered in time for the tournament. The Clermont Auvergne captain, Aurelien Rougerie, who suffered a serious ankle injury at the weekend and is set to be sidelined for three to four months, makes the squad of 32 as does club Thomas Domingo, who has a knee injury. Fabien Barcella (Achilles) is the other player on whom Lièvremont is prepared to gamble.
The Biarritz flanker Raphael Lafakia is the only uncapped player in the squad. Lièvremont must decide on his final squad of 30 by 22 August.
Provisional France squad
Forwards: F Barcella (Biarritz); T Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), L Ducalcon (Castres), N Mas (Perpignan), S Marconnet (Stade Français), J-B Poux (Toulouse), W Servat (Toulouse), D Szarzewski (Stade Français), L Nallet (Racing Métro), J Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), R Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), P Pape (Stade Français), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), R Lakafia (Biarritz), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), L Picamoles (Toulouse).
Backs: M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), D Yachvili (Biarritz), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), D Skrela (Toulouse), F Estebanez (Brive), D Marty (Perpignan), M Mermoz (Perpignan), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), D Traille (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse), C Heymans (Toulouse), Y Huget (Bayonne), M Médard (Toulouse), A Palisson (Brive).