RUGBY: Scan through the make-up of the eight quarter-finalists and not the least worrying aspect about Ireland's opponents in Melbourne next Sunday is that the French are the most settled side left in the competition, writes Gerry Thornley in Melbourne.
Even the dogs on the Champs-Elyssées could have told you their starting team a week or two ago.
They look to be in the rudest health of anyone. Only the prop Pieter de Villiers is missing from what would be the strongest French hand available after he dislocated his shoulder in what now seems an ill-advised afternoon spent mountain-biking in the Alps during their pre-World Cup training camp.
Having been together in camp effectively since early August, they arrive at this quarter-final in excellent shape, seemingly as well primed as they could wish to be.
They possess a serious scrum, and Jerome Thion's emergence as a second-row foil to Fabien Pelous (at the expense of the teak-tough but non-jumping Olivier Brouzet) has added another dimension to their tight five play. Yannick Jauzion, another to make vast strides in the last year, has emerged as a superior, more rounded centre partner to Tony Marsh than Damien Traille, and Nicolas Brusque has displaced the elusive Clement Poitrenaud at full back, not least because he has a solid kicking game, whereas Poitrenaud simply doesn't have one.
But Marsh's return from chemotherapy for testicular cancer in April and May has been the biggest boon. Aside from the Kiwi's strength and presence, he provides a leadership link to Fabien Galthie that otherwise wouldn't exist. Marsh didn't train last week because of an Achilles' tendon strain but did resume training over the weekend.
Otherwise, the starting team actually trained separately for much of last week from the second-string team chosen to play the US Eagles as they focused exclusively on their prospective quarter-final against Ireland.
This week, according to coach Bernard Laporte, they can start to tone down their preparations. "It will be easier training, it will be shorter training, based on evaluating Ireland and repetitiveness."
The only questions facing Laporte these past few days after he analysed the performance of his second string in beating the Eagles was the make-up of his bench, and specifically whether to go with Christian Labit, Patrick Tabacco or Sebastien Chabal as back row cover, and either Traille or Brian Liebenberg as cover for the midfield. In the end he opted for Tabacco and Liebenberg.
Chabal, easily the most bruising and physical of the back rowers available to Laporte, threatened to lead a mini revolt during the pool stages prior to a belated first start against the Eagles.
"It is very frustrating not to have a chance to play. I wanted to show that I am more than a big tackler. I'm not only that. I have to talk with the king," the miffed Bourgoin flanker told French journalists.
Mindful that disharmony undermined their challenge four years ago, the French management agreed to a "truth session" with the players on Monday to allow any grievances to be aired. "There are hard decisions to be made, but we are at that session of the tournament," warned team manager Joe Maso. "But we can't win the World Cup if they (the non-selected players) show any negative spirit and are not 100 per cent behind the players."
It's been reported that the unused eight have been dubbed the Toasties, because they must attend the post-match functions in team coat and ties. Nonetheless, there is evidence of improved squad harmony in the way that French try scorers sometimes make a T-sign with their hands.
Like Keith Wood, the French captain Galthie (playing in his fourth World Cup) enjoys a hugely influential role in the squad set-up and, likewise, will retire at the culmination of this tournament.
So, double or quits for both of them.
But France are in the luxurious position of having several former captains in their ranks, such as Fabien Pelous and Olivier Magne. Pelous is the first lieutenant, a Johnsonesque dog of war, who has played in three Grand Slams as well as playing in the last World Cup and is the squad's most capped player.
According to Joe Maso: "Now the two Fabiens will be the motors of the team. They have to take responsibility this week."
The star of the show, undoubtedly, is the prolific, free-scoring, gifted 21-year-old Frederic Michalak. Quick-witted, quick-footed and ultra-confident, he is equally at home at scrumhalf but has emerged since the summer tour as the solution to France's problematic outhalf position.
Although he still seems a tad nonchalant about his place-kicking, Michalak has become far more of a team player than an individualist in this tournament, and almost expressed surprise at his self-control after the game against Scotland, when Les Bleus used the strength of their pack, especially in the maul, to lay the foundations before pulling away in the last quarter to win 51-9.
When they began analysing Scotland's prospective opponents, incoming Scottish coach Matt Williams and his video analyst, Brett Igoe, were struck by the variety of patterns and ploys which the French used from set-pieces, no matter what area of the pitch they're in. Hard to read, and yet the impression remains that France have kept more in their locker.
"At the moment we have just played correct games but not necessarily very good games. We haven't done anything special yet," said Maso
Yet it could be that, as has been the case before, the prospect of a semi-final place - particularly against Les Rosbifs - will be the occasion to inspire the French. Semi-finals have historically found France at their best: witness the last-minute try by Serge Blanco which completed their memorable win over Australia in Sydney in the inaugural 1987 World Cup, the unlucky failure when aquaplanning against the Springboks in 1995, or the unforgettable win over the All Blacks four years ago.
A record of second, fifth, third and second in World Cups is testimony to their pedigree in this competition. Yet curiously, a quarter-final against Ireland could conceivably be more problematic for them than even a semi-final against England. Hate is a wonderful spur, and how could they hate the Irish?
They've also, perhaps, had it a bit too easy for their own good in easing past Fiji, Japan, Scotland and the US with a bonus point in every game. Nothing will quite have prepared them for this, not only the extent of Ireland's challenge, but the enclosed passion of a green Telstra Dome, which is liable to be even more passionately Irish than Lansdowne Road.
Their back row of Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy and Magne has looked back to its all-singing, all-dancing best in this tournament after an unexceptional Six Nations campaign. But as was seen at Lansdowne Road last March in Ireland's tryless, 15-12 win, when their front five are forced on the back foot this French back row doesn't have the defensive physical presence to change things around.
Nor does the French line-up contain the fear of before. All are familiar to the Irish players, and all have suffered plenty of defeats to Irish teams whether at international level or in the European Cup. The mystique has been eroded.
FRANCE: N Brusque (Biarritz); A Rougerie (Montferrand), T Marsh (Montferrand), Y Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), C Dominici (Stade Francais); F Michalak (Toulouse), F Galthie (Stade Francais, capt); J-J Crenca (Agen), R Ibanez (Saracens), S Marconnet (Stade Francais), F Pelous (Stade Toulousain), J Thion (Biarritz), S Betsen (Biarritz), I Harinordoquy (Pau), O Magne (Montferrand). Replacements: Y Bru (Stade Toulousain), O Milloud (Bourgoin), O Brouzet (Montferrand), P Tabacco (Stade Francais), G Merceron (Montferrand), B Liebenberg (Stade Francais), P Elhorga (Agen).
