Six Nations 2011: Shane Williams of Wales to miss France match

Shane Williams has probably played his last Six Nations match. The Ospreys wing has been ruled out of Wales's match against France in Paris on Saturday with a knee injury that he sustained in last weekend's victory over Ireland in Cardiff. The 34-year-old waved to the Millennium Stadium crowd after the Ireland game, as if saying farewell, and the following day said that he expected the France match to be his last in the Six Nations, 11 years after he made his debut – against France in Cardiff. He has scored 22 tries in the championship, two behind the joint record holder, the Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll, who joined Ian Smith of Scotland on 24 last weekend. Williams, who has scored 53 tries in 79 appearances for Wales, said he would "almost certainly" retire from international rugby after the World Cup in New Zealand in the autumn. A scan showed that he had sustained ligament damage in the Ireland match and he faces eight weeks out, effectively the rest of the season, although he will not require surgery. Wales have called up the 18-year-old Scarlet George North and he is likely to play on Williams's left wing in Paris although, like Leigh Halfpenny and Morgan Stoddart, the other two wings in the squad, he prefers to play on the right.