Six Nations Championship: Bernard Laporte believes he has the right players. But perhaps they are not always playing in the right frame of mind. Following their defeat at the hands of Wales, the French coach has not panicked and believes that the same hapless second-half performance in Cardiff cannot be repeated by the same bunch of players in Dublin.
Laporte yesterday picked largely the same side that lost to Wales with just two changes, both of them forced. "Le professeur" has recalled centre Ludovic Valbon to replace Damien Traille, who has a foot injury, while wing Cedric Heymans replaces Aurelien Rougerie. The 192-centimetre (6ft 4ins) Rougerie, remembered best for bouncing the wispy Shane Williams around Millennium Stadium 10 days ago, is sidelined with a collarbone injury.
On the replacements' bench, South African-born prop Pieter de Villiers is also back in the travelling party after Olivier Milloud withdrew because of a foot injury while lock Pascal Pape returns from injury. With number eight Imanol Harinordoquy out of the reckoning, it means that France will travel to Dublin with four locks: captain Fabien Pelous, who will win his 100th cap; Jerome Thion; Pape; and Gregory Lamboley. Once more the creative outhalf Fredrik Michalak sits on the bench.
Valbon coming in beside Yannick Jauzion means that the French will face Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll and Kevin Maggs as an untried centre pairing. The 28-year-old Valbon, who plays club rugby with Brive, has won only two caps and is a tad green at this level. His first cap came against the United States last July and the second as a replacement against Scotland in France's Six Nations opener.
"Valbon is a very talented player. I'm sure he will be eager to prove his worth and to face O'Driscoll and D'Arcy, who are one of the best pair of centres in the world, can only increase his motivation," said coach Bernard Laporte before the Irish team had been announced yesterday. With a mysterious flourish he added: "The Irish don't know him yet, they are going to discover him. Heymans was an obvious candidate. He has won 10 caps, he was with us last November and he is back to his best after being sidelined by an injury."
Laporte retained the pack who played against Wales but recalled de Villiers as a replacement after Olivier Milloud withdrew because of a foot injury.
Team manager Jo Maso alluded to Ireland's highly regarded physical tenacity and their defensive organisation against England in the dying minutes as a defining phase in Lansdowne Road.
"It was already difficult to win at Lansdowne Road when the Irish were not playing so well. We know we shall have to put our helmets on," he said. "We want to be able to replace both locks during the game if needed and Gregory Lamboley can also come on at number seven or eight. I think that 80 per cent of the players we shall face on Saturday played in our World Cup quarter-final in Australia.
"They (Ireland) have mature players who will take this game at heart because they have their eyes set on a grand slam clinching game against Wales." 15 Julien Laharrague (Brive)
14 Cedric Heymans (Toulouse)
13 Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse)
12 Ludovic Valbon (Brive)
11Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais)
10 Yann Delaigue (Castres)
9 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz)
1 Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais)
2 Sebastien Bruno (Sale Sharks)
3 Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
4 Fabien Pelous (Toulouse, capt)
5 Jerome Thion (Biarritz)
6 Serge Betsen (Biarritz)
7 Yannick Nyanga (Beziers)
8 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin)
Replacements: 16 William Servat (Toulouse), 17 Pieter de Villiers (Stade Francais), 18 Pascal Pape (Bourgoin), 19 Gregory Lamboley (Toulouse), 20 Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), 21 Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), 22 Benoit Baby (Toulouse).
