The French

I thought we might discuss today about what the make up of the French team is likely to be and how they will fare in the World Cup. Very often these articles get dismissed as pointless; as the French are consistently inconsistent. Anyway here is their squad.

Loosehead Prop: Barcella, Poux, Domingo

Hooker: Guirado, Servat, Szarzewski

Tighthead Prop: Mas, Marconnet, Ducalcon

Lock: Nallet, Pape, Pierre, Millo-Chluski

Flanker: Dusatoir, Bonnaire, Ouedraogo

Number 8: Harinordoquy, Picamoles, Lakafia

Scrumhalf: Yachvili, Parra

Flyhalf: Skrela, Trinh-Duc

Inside Centre: Estebanez, Mermoz

Outside Centre: Rougerie, Marty

Winger: Clerc, Medard, Palisson

Fullback: Heymans, Traille

Its a very settled squad. Its not much more than a 30 man squad really. Only 2 players will be cut and this squad has been decided since May. Some massive calls were made regarding Jauzion, Chabal and Poitraneud. However I think the dust has settled and the team will be quite cohesive in my opinion.

This is a team I want to watch closely. You look at their implosion against Australia, their sacking by Italy and their stale performance against England; a surprise defeat against Tonga could be on the cards. They really lack fringe defence as showed in the 6 Nations and the big islanders could outmuscle them.

However by the same token you have to look at that team and think that, even if they lose to New Zealand in the pool, that they would be capable certainly of a semi final if not better. Their quarter final opponents appear to be England, Argentina or Scotland. England remain a bogey team for them, just as the Irish are to them and the French are to the Irish in the menage et trois of rugby bogey teams. However in a once off game anything can happen.

Its always tough to tell with Lievremont but as a starting team.

01 Domingo
02 Servat
03 Mas
04 Pierre
05 Nallet
06 Dusatoir
07 Bonnaire
08 Harinordoquy
09 Parra
10 Trinh-Duc
11 Palisson
12 Mermoz
13 Rougerie
14 Clerc
15 Medard

16 Guirado
17 Ducalon
18 Pape
19 Picamoles
20 Yachvili
21 Traille
22 Heymans

That's a pretty strong French team you've chosen there Stag, especially in the forwards.

I'm not sure with the French if they are that easily out muscled. Against Wales anyway they seemed more then capable in the physical aspects of the game and completely dominated the breakdown. As ever with the French, I think it depends on what mindset they start the game with.

Personally I think it was a mistake for Jauzion to be dropped from the squad, the French back's aren't as strong as they usually are and they don't have all that much experience there now. Rougerie and Medard are going to have to play out of their skins and I hope Clerc gets back to his dazzling best of a couple of seasons ago.

Reckon France will definitely make the QF, and in knock out rugby then...who knows? I hope they do really well though, they're nearly always in my top 2 or 3 teams that I support.

I think the battle for the 12 shirt is very interesting.

I really hope Rougerie's fit for the World Cup. He could be awesome at outside centre.

Its true Luckless. He's such a powerful runner than any sort of creative 12 will suit him down to the ground. A real physical man with pace to burn.

And if you have Rougerie drawing defenders with a creative 12 playing in a potential back 3 of Heymans, Clerc and Medard things start getting quite scary.

They should have adequate front foot ball too, look at their front row options, their scrum should be very good.

Possible weakness's other than mentality:

Lineout??? They have great backrow options in the air
Breakdown??? If they can be matched physically then that is a good ploy. Looking forward to trying the wrap tackle defence on them on sat and enxt week and seeing how they react

Their defence is a weakness IMO Pete. I also think Flyhalf is a possible weakness.

That's true. Stag. Trinh-Duc's good but not great, and I've never thought much of Skrela.

And it will be the knockout stages where a weak flyhalf will cost you a match.

That is true, they almost use him as a third centre at times and all of the play revolves around the 9 it's a very French thing to do.

I wouldn't say their defence is too much of a weakness though is it???

I haven't been impressed with it especially around the fringes. Scotland scored 3 tries against them in the 6 Nations by targetting the fringes. Ireland got another 2 fringe tries against them. And then don't forget conceding nearly SIXTY points in one game last autumn.

we'll I'd put the Aussie match down to mentallity more than anything else but yes the fringe thing makes a lot of sense.

Their front row options are the envy of most teams in the world I'd reckon

The problem for the French is that I don't think Leiveremont actually knows in his own mind what his best XV is, and as a result the players have no faith in the coach.

When he took over he looked at a lot of players and rotated constantly. Initially I think that was the correct thing to do. But he failed to identify a core to his squad due to the sheer number of quality players at his disposal. His chopping and changing has continued too long and there is still no cohesion to the squad.

Contrast this with Graham Henry, who has a similar amount of quality to chose from. He has had the same core 20-25 player sin his squad for the past 2-3 years, and brings in one or two at a time to asses and then decides if they are in or out. As the clamour for someone like SBW to be included grows, Henry ignores it and does what he believes its right as he knows his own mind.

I do not believe that Leivremont knows his own mind and as a result the team suffers. I cannot see France getting beyond a semi final at best, and in reality I think they will go out at the quarter final stage.

Pete - I would argue that Graham Henry has made the same mistake as Lievremont in the past espeically in the build up to the last World Cup.

In the build up to the last World Cup maybe Stag, but he appears to have learnt his lessons and the squad has been more settled this time.

LDCPete wrote:In the build up to the last World Cup maybe Stag, but he appears to have learnt his lessons and the squad has been more settled this time.

Oh definitely. He has completely learnt from the last time around I would say. A final isn't out of question. Say for example Ireland v France semi final. (Irlenad beat Australia and Wales; France lose to NZ and beat England). The French could win it.

Whilst I am clearly slightly biased due to my6 nationality, I genuinely don't think that France will win a quarter final against England. Ina knockout game I would back us to beat them 9 times out of 10 on a neutral ground.

Mentally I think we would have the edge on them, and as much as I rate Trinh-Duc highly as a player, I think in terms of getting the job done at 10, I would back Jonny to take the right options and get points on the board to take us through.

How confident are you of topping the pool Pete? Could we see Eng v NZ, France v Argentina/Scotland?

Strangely enough I am less confident of topping the pool than I am of us beating France in the quarter final.

I think we could slip up against Scotland. In the same way that we always raise our game against the French, they always raise theirs against us. it is quite conceivable that we could finish second in the pool.

I can see it happening personally. All you need is lose 1 game.

Thats a very strong pack in the OP isnt it? I do wonder about the wisdom of dropping Jauizon though, for me Mermoz has never performed as well as he should do for a player of his size/skill.

What would make things really interesting would be if the beat New Zealand in the pool, stranger things have happened!

Bit off-topic, but I can see a situation where Argentina, Scotland and England win 3 games each. I still can't see Scotland going through if it comes down to bonus points.

France vs Tonga is going to be an interesting game but I suppose I've had less interest in the French, as they seem pretty clearcut to go through with New Zealand. The other three pools have at least three realistic contenders in a way this pool doesn't. I just can't see an upset against Tonga even given your very valid points regarding Fringe defence. That scrum will put them on the front foot all day against the islanders and they have more than enough talent out wide to punish any missed tackles or poor organisation.

Looking at the players Lievremont has left behind, he will get some serious flak if the backline doesn't click down in NZ. I don't think he can survive this World Cup with anything less than a semi-final, but then again the French seem to have a high tolerance for eccentric madman coaches.

Can't see Argentina going through if it comes down to bonus points either...

The advantage for England is that they score more tries than any other side in their pool.

How many warm up games are the French playing? In contrast how many are the Scots and Argentinians playing?

The French should make it to the quarters. They wouldn't enjoy a quarterfinal vs two of their bogey sides though - England and Argentina.

Argentina are more of a try scoring team than Scotland though.

The days of Argentina as a kick the ball high, chase, tackle, ruck, pick and go team are over now with Contimpomi at 10, Hernandez will surely play 15. Does Corletto still get his game with them?

Is Hernandez even fit?

I thought so, I could be wrong though.

Corleto retired years ago.

Peter being more of a try scoring team than Scotland is hardly that difficult!

If it rains though Scotland will be a force to be reckoned with. Their backrow is good too.

What?! That one went straight over my head, pity I really liked him. His tries against France in the RWC 07 were awesome too.

Corletto

we're all quite evenly matched and Scotland have enough in the pack to stop the opposition scoring unless they bring their 'A' game and are clinical. If the weathers poor then it'll be even closer and unless something changes in our forwards I can see it being close against Scotland and Argentina, brown pants close.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:What?! That one went straight over my head, pity I really liked him. His tries against France in the RWC 07 were awesome too.

Corletto

Was Corletto the long haired guy who scored a fair few for Argentina in that WC?

Yeah, he retired right after that World Cup Pete. It's not even recent.

Yup scored the first try of the tournament in France against France!!!! 50m dash!

Can't believe I didn't know this. A bronze medal is a pretty good send off

LDCPete wrote:The problem for the French is that I don't think Leiveremont actually knows in his own mind what his best XV is

Apparently its selected weekly by the website sixzérosixvdeux.fr according to the principles of who various arnchair analysts like on that particular day.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Yup scored the first try of the tournament in France against France!!!! 50m dash!

Can't believe I didn't know this. A bronze medal is a pretty good send off

I remember that try! What a good 'un, it was moments after I had told a mate that France should dominate this game and show the intense defense they'd been mastering...

Fair play to him, i thought i hadn't seen him play for a while!