IRELAND v FRANCE:ADOPTING A notably different approach to Ireland's preparation for the World Cup, Marc Lièvremont will announce his 30-man French squad for New Zealand on Sunday morning.
Why wait for the deadline to loom, he reasoned. Not that it will provide too many revelations. Lièvremont dismissed most of the wondering weeks ago when dumping Sébastien Chabal, Yannick Jauzion and Clement Poitrenaud .
Only 32 French players are staying at the Johnstown House Hotel in Enfield this week and after Saturday’s match all bar William Servat and Thomas Domingo will have been exposed to gametime against Ireland.
These first choice front-rowers are still recuperating from injury and the deadline may pass them by. But Lièvremont may well select them for the World Cup on past achievements – not that second guessing the French coach is advisable.
Notoriously unpredictable, he did stay true to his word yesterday by making 13 changes from the 19-12 victory in Bordeaux last Saturday night. The only starting XV survivors being hooker Dimitri Szarzewski and winger Alexis Palisson. Otherwise, it is all change although this does not necessarily indicate a weakened line-up.
Pascal Pape and Lionel Nallet, replacing Thierry Dusautoir as captain, bring their sizeable bulk to the engine room while the one-time highly-rated prop Fabien Barcella should be given an opportunity to stake his claim for inclusion, off the bench, providing he recovers from a torn bicep.
Another well-timed return is that of outside centre Aurelien Rougerie. The Clermont Auvergne captain had his Achilles’ tendon operated in May following a ghastly injury.
Lièvremont expects Rougerie to be bearing down on a familiar Irish backline. “After the experimentation of last week they will probably have D’Arcy and O’Driscoll in the midfield,” he said.
“After losing two games and considering they are playing England next week, we cannot imagine Ireland not doing their best to win at the Aviva Stadium.”
Asked if he thought Ireland are World Cup contenders, he said: “It’s too early for that talk. We’re not in the same board (pool).
“It is really hard to have an opinion on that for any of the Northern Hemisphere teams at the moment. Even after these warm-up games.”
Considering some of the zany decisions made by the French coach these past few seasons, this actually makes perfect sense. Right now, the Southern Hemisphere big three are locked in their version of the Six Nations. It provides compelling and highly competitive fixtures, with the exception of South Africa’s dud selections on the road.
In contrast, the Six Nations teams are playing fairly meaningless warm-up games in an attempt to find some sort of rhythm.
Lièvremont merely told us they were essential for match practice but otherwise irrelevant.
“Potentially,” he continued, “Ireland are a very strong team – (Leinster are) European Champions, and they had a strong showing against England in the last Six Nations game. So, potentially.”
What about the importance of victory here?
A Gallic shrug before: “Yes, it’s important to win. If the performance is there you can expect a victory.
“Ireland will be more aggressive than last Saturday. I expect their best team to come out.”
FRANCE: v Ireland
15 Cédric Heymans
14 Maxime Medard
13 Aurelien Rougerie
12 Fabrice Estebanez
11 Alexis Palisson
10 David Skrela
9 Morgan Parra
1 Jean-Baptiste Poux
2 Dimitri Szarzewski
3 Nicolas Mas
4 Pascal Pape
5 Lionel Nallet (capt)
6 Fulgence Quedraogo
7 Julien Bonaire
8 Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: G Guirado, F Barcella/L Ducalcon, J Pierre, R Lafika, D Yachvili, F Trinh Duc, V Clerc.
