Stade Francais Paris and France prop Sylvain Marconnet will miss the World Cup on home soil.
The 31-year-old ERC Elite award winner has failed to recover in time from a broken leg sustained when skiing in March. His place in the French squad will be taken by Perpignan prop Nicholas Mass.
Marconnet has 71 caps for France and has been a stalwart for the Parisians in Europe. He has played 51 Heineken Cup matches for the French champions and featured in both of their unsuccessful Heineken Cup finals in 2001 against Leicester and 2005 against Toulouse.
Fabian Gailitie will be hoping the Marconnet, who must undergo a second operation arising from the injury, will make a full recovery in time to feature in the metropolitan's European campaign against Cardiff, Bristol and Harlequins.