Camille Lopez pulls out of France tour to SA

Clermont fly-half Camille Lopez will not join up with the France squad for their upcoming tour of South Africa, instead being rested after a long season, his coach Guy Noves said on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Lopez, who has won 16 caps for his country, will feature for Clermont in Sunday's French Top 14 finale against Toulon.

He was due to join up with Les Bleus in South Africa next week, but will now not travel. And Noves will not call up a replacement, for now anyway.

"For the moment, I prefer to wait," Noves told AFP, confirming an earlier report by sports daily L'Equipe.

The coach had already chosen not to call up two of Lopez's Clermont colleagues in centre Remi Lamerat and back row Damien Chouly.