Toulouse powerhouse Louis Picamoles on Monday was handed a recall to the France squad to prepare for the Six Nations showdown against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The 28-year-old back rower won the last of his 44 caps against Australia in June 2014 before missing the build-up to the Six Nations tournament through injury.
Picamoles will take over from Racing-Metro's Wenceslas Lauret who has a thigh injury.
"We want to see what his physical shape is," said coach Philippe Saint-Andre. "He played in the last two Top-14 games for Toulouse."
"Yannick Bru (forwards coach) has been in touch with the staff at Toulouse and they say he is at 100 percent. As we have a back row player injured, that opens the door for the return of Louis Picamoles."
Also back in the training squad are Jocelino Suta, Rémi Tales, Marc Andreu and Yannick Nyanga. The quartet were in the squad for the game against Italy, but were not chosen to travel to Rome at the weekend.
Saint-Andre added that there were injury concerns over fly-halves Camille Lopez (knee) and Jules Plisson (nose) and prop Eddy Ben Arous (triceps), who would all undergo medical tests.
The French won 29-0 in Rome keeping alive their hopes of sneaking an unlikely win in the Six Nations this year, but their last win at Twickenham dates back to 2007.
Source: AFP