Rugby:France have named an unchanged squad to face England in the Six Nations at the Stade de France on Sunday. Les Bleus recorded a 17-17 draw with Ireland in their rearranged game yesterday and coach Philippe Saint-André has resisted the temptation to make alterations.
“Bizarrely, it was only a draw but it was our best performance since the start of the Six Nations,” he said. “Statistics showed that we dominated but did not win.”
The stalemate with Ireland left France in second place in the table, a point behind Triple Crown winners Wales with two games remaining.
“We can still win the tournament,” added Saint-Andre. “And we will prepare for a big match against England. In terms of content, that was our best game.
We had the guts to fight back. It's incredible how we dominated the game in terms of possession, turnovers, defence, in the number of passes and tackles. We ended with four penalties against 11. There was huge progress. We would prefer to win the game but the Irish helped themselves after our mistakes."
“We had the ambition to play. That hurt us in the first half. The French team had the ball. We lacked technical precision to conclude. But we created chances to secure a victory,” Saint-André added. "We had a better finish than the Irish, as we did against the Scots and the Italians, which shows we have great condition. We only lack this stamina from the start."
France squad:C Poitrenaud, V Clerc, A Rougerie, W Fofana, M Mermoz, J Malzieu, F Trinh-Duc, L Beauxis, M Parra, J Dupuy; J Bonnaire, I Harinordoquy, L Picamoles, T Dusautoir, L Nallet, Y Maestri, P Pape, D Attoub, V Debaty, N Mas, J Poux, D Szarzewski, W Servat.
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