Six Nations tournament will be ‘tough’, coach Lievremont warns players
PARIS: The Six Nations tournament will be a tough test of character for a France team shorn of a host of top-line players, coach Marc Lievremont warned on Monday.Les Bleus kick off their campaign with a tricky away trip to Murrayfield on February 7 to face a Scotland side revitalised under new coach Andy Robinson.
Lievremont, who names a 30-man squad on today, will be without some of his best players.
Scrum-half Julien Dupuy is serving a ban for gouging, while Maxime Mermoz, Fabien Barcella, Damien Traille and Dimitri Yachvili are all out injured with question marks also over Toulouse duo Romain Millo-Chluski and William Servat.
“We play a demanding sport with a demanding calendar. I’m sad for those players who’ll miss out on part or all of the Six Nations but you have to move on and not let it unsettle you,” Lievremont told AFP.
“But it has really reduced our options, what with the suspension of Julien Dupuy and the absence of Damien Traille, who can play in a number of positions in the backline.”
Lievremont said the tournament “will be tough”.
“The English are in the same situation as us. The Welsh finished fourth last year and will be out for revenge. Scotland enjoyed a good run of November Tests and the Irish want to restate their case” as Grand Slam winners last season.
“Cliches aside, we really have to start the tournament well in Scotland.
“At the start of every Six Nations the deck of cards is reshuffled and it creates a dynamic.”
At a time when much rugby is derided for having become a boring, kicking-dominated game in which defence is king and teams spurn a running style of play in preference for trying to enforce errors from opponents, Lievremont stressed that he wanted his side to buck the trend.
“Added to the duty of having to win the tournament, I really want our team – and it has the means to do so – to play an interesting, attacking type of rugby,” the former France flanker said.
“We have to motivate the players for that: counter-attacking and the never-ending need to get into position.”
France endured a promising start to their November campaign, notching up a stirring 20-13 win over world champions South Africa and a facile 43-5 victory over Samoa before being disappointingly overrun 39-12 by a rampant All Blacks side.
“We have the feeling that this France team is capable of beating no matter who. But there exists a difficulty in notching up three wins on the trot,” Lievremont said.
“But I feel that many things are beginning to fall into place even if injuries mean that there are periods in certain matches when we’re not progressing.”
Turning to Scotland and the Six Nations opener next month, Lievremont said English coach Robinson had transformed the Scots into a hard-nosed team.
“I like to say that they were a “little like the ‘All Blacks of the North’,” he said.
“Of course they have fewer individual qualities and are not as powerful but they play the game with a focus on defence.
“Their new coach has put an emphasis on the battle up front. In November, against Argentina and Australia, it wasn’t exceptional in terms of a spectacle but I saw a defence that did not leak, a lot of power behind and a good kicking game that is one of their traditional weapons.” — AFP