RUGBY NEWS ROUND-UP:The legacy of a bruising Top 14 season will dictate the selection when the French coach names his team to play Ireland today, writes GERRY THORNLEY
FRENCH COACH Marc Lièvremont will announce his team to play Ireland this afternoon after his squad reassemble in Bordeaux this morning following three days’ rest at home. The French coach has promised to mix his selections for the two back-to-back games against Declan Kidney’s men – France’s only warm-up matches prior to the World Cup.
Hence, there are no real indications as to what his opening selection will be, although his hand has been limited somewhat by the punishing demands of the French domestic season. Several members of Lièvremont’s original 33-man squad were still nursing injuries from the French championship, which only finished on June 4th with Toulouse beating Montpellier in the Top 14 Final, when they began their pre-season on June 28th.
Thomas Domingo and William Servat are still struggling to reach full fitness, and whereas Servat might feature in the Aviva on Saturday week after recovering from a knee injury to resume training today, Domingo is likely to travel to New Zealand without playing in either warm-up match, such is his importance to the team.
All of this was compounded last week when Biarritz prop Fabien Barcella, who has not played for almost a year because of a ruptured Achilles, tore a bicep in training. Stade Français hooker Dimitri Szarzewski is likely to start, and will perhaps be flanked by Jean-Baptiste Poux or Sylvain Marconnet and Nicolas Mas in the front-row.
Aurélien Rougerie has been out of action for three months after fracturing his ankle in the semi-finals of the Top 14 but, although back to full training, as with Vincent Clerc, he may not feature this weekend. With Bayonne winger Yoann Huget having been expelled from France’s 33-man World Cup squad last week for failing to adhere to anti-doping regulations, Maxime Médard and Alexis Palisson may feature on the wings, with either Damien Traille or the surprisingly recalled Cédric Heymans at fullback.
It is anticipated Thierry Dusautoir will lead the side, and Biarritz flanker Raphaël Lakafia, the only uncapped player in the squad, may make his debut. Lièvremont has said he will rotate his two scrum-halves against Ireland, namely Morgan Parra and Dimitri Yachvili.
Lièvremont has maintained that the two matches against Ireland will be ideal preparation.
“The warm-up matches are more than just friendlies,” said the French coach last week. “They are the only two matches before the World Cup. We need to see if the players have the capacity to maintain the rhythm, if things are functioning alright, to see how we fare against counter attacks by a really good side, and to see the enthusiasm and aggression of the players.
“We are anticipating two really beautiful rugby matches while acknowledging that, up until the first pool matches, there are bound to be errors and not everything will be perfect.”
Despite the ravages of last season, which even obliged the 42-year-old French coach (whose 25 caps in the backrow included the 1999 World Cup final) to join in some sessions, Lièvremont has said the work achieved in the training camps had exceeded his expectations.
Les Bleus’ highly publicised preparations saw them leave the French Federation’s state of the art base in Marcoussis for a gruelling boot camp in the forests of Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small town in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France which was famous for being a Jewish haven during the secondWorld War. There the players slept in tents after hours of running, hiking, orienteering, mountain biking and rafting at an altitude of 1,200m.
“Yes I am satisfied with the way training has been going, actually it is above my expectations,” said Lièvremont. “It is true we are not in the habit of this rhythm of work, to have the time to work, to develop the athletic qualities, cohesion, to exchange with the players over the strategy.
“I was nevertheless very careful as we had chosen a very ambitious preparatory programme.
“Everything is going very well for the moment. What is interesting is that the players have stuck to everything that we have proposed,” said Lièvremont, “even when we have urged them to increase the physical work despite their being a certain weariness and general fatigue. But they have already accrued the benefits.”
France, who are in the same World Cup group as New Zealand, begin their World Cup campaign against Japan in Auckland on September 10th. There is a keen sense of curiosity as to what team Lièvremont – whose media and public support appears to remain minimal – will announce and, more pertinently, what style of play they will seek to unveil against Ireland in Bordeaux.
