Mathieu Bastareaud snubbed despite his apology

Mathieu Bastareaud has been ignored by France for next month's rugby Test with South Africa despite apologising yesterday for lying to police about being attacked on tour.

Marc Lievremont had said he would not pick the centre until he said sorry for covering up the fact he hurt himself when he fell while drunk in New Zealand in June. The coach said today: "I regret his statement wasn't done before."