Thomas Castaignède returns to the international arena this week, two years after his career shuddered to a halt following a serious Achilles tendon injury.

The Saracens full-back was yesterday recalled by France's coach Bernard Laporte to replace Clément Poitrenaud, who will be out for three weeks with a rib injury. Laporte saw Castaignède give his best performance of the season when the coach watched Saracens play Leicester last week. France meet South Africa in Marseille on Saturday evening before hosting New Zealand a week later at the Stade de France and Canada the following Saturday in Paris.

Castaignède's career came to an untimely halt on November 4 2000 when he snapped an Achilles tendon shortly before an international against the world champions Australia at the Stade de France. The 27-year-old needed three operations and 18 months to recover, only making his return for Saracens on May 12.

Castaignède's recovery has been plagued by a dispute between the French Rugby Federation and Saracens about his wages as the FFR refused to pay compensation demanded by the English club.

Scotland's coach Ian McGeechan has drafted Nathan Hines into his squad as cover for Jason White and Scott Murray. The Edinburgh lock Murray and Glasgow's back-row forward White are both recovering from injuries.

Hines, who has won three caps, was originally included in the Scotland A squad, but will now join up with the senior squad today for the first autumn Test against Romania at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Leicester's Geordan Murphy has been called into the Ireland squad for this Saturday's meeting with Australia in Dublin. The full-back is in the squad as cover for the wing Denis Hickie who is carrying a hand injury.

Murphy joins the hooker Frank Sheahan as a late addition to the squad. Sheahan comes in to replace the injured captain Keith Wood.