France eye third Six Nations title
High spirit: French coach Bernard Laporte says his team has high morale after a disappointing 26-18 defeat by England. Picture: EPA French coach Bernard Laporte during the post match press conference after the second Rugby World Cup semi-final between England and France at Telstra Stadium in Sydney, 16 November 2003. England won the match 24-7 and will face Australia in next week's Wo
Saturday, March 17, 2007
THERE will be three Six Nations trophies on standby in Paris, Rome and Cardiff today and France will give everything to keep the cup after a win over Scotland at the Stade de France.
To reach that goal, the French will first have to demonstrate they have recovered from the disappointment of their 26-18 defeat by England at Twickenham which shattered their dreams of a grand slam.
"The players were angry with themselves and disappointed, as competitors should be after such a poor game.
"Now, the time of moaning is gone, I think morale is high again," said coach Bernard Laporte.
"The players will enter today's match with a strong determination to win it and to win it by a wide margin."
Going into today's last round of matches, France, triple crown winners Ireland and England have identical records of three wins and one defeat.
France lead on points difference with +42. Ireland, who play Italy in Rome, have +38 and England, away against Wales, +13.
"The grand slam would have been a bonus but they don't come easily. Our true objective was to win the championship for the third time in four years since the 2003 World Cup," said team manager Jo Maso.
With just one win over Wales, the Scots are out of contention for the title but coach Frank Hadden said: "We've picked a team to win. We will go over to Paris believing we can win the game."
Hadden has made seven changes to the team who lost 19-18 to Ireland last weekend at Murrayfield, drafting in centre Andrew Henderson, wing Nikki Walker, scrumhalf Rory Lawson, hooker Ross Ford and number eight Johnnie Beattie.
In two positional changes, captain Chris Paterson moves from wing to fullback in place of the injured Hugo Southwell while Rob Dewey migrates from inside to outside centre.
At France's Marcoussis training camp, where the atmosphere was described as "a bit more tense" by lock Lionel Nallet or "hardworking" by recalled number eight Imanol Harinordoquy, three players paid the price for the Twickenham defeat.
Scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili and number eight Sebastien Chabal were dropped from the squad and left wing Christophe Dominici was relegated to the bench.
Harinordoquy, whose only start this season was at flanker against Ireland, replaces Chabal, Cedric Heymans takes over from Dominici and back comes scrumhalf Pierre Mignoni who started the first three games.
Lionel Beauxis comes in at flyhalf for David Skrela, who sustained an ankle injury against England.
Beauxis, captain of the French team that won the under-21 World Cup last June, has been Skrela's understudy at Stade Francais since the start of the season and with the national team in the Six Nations, coming on in all four games.
"Saturday's match will be a good opportunity to see him playing a full game," Laporte said.
Reuters
To reach that goal, the French will first have to demonstrate they have recovered from the disappointment of their 26-18 defeat by England at Twickenham which shattered their dreams of a grand slam.
"The players were angry with themselves and disappointed, as competitors should be after such a poor game.
"Now, the time of moaning is gone, I think morale is high again," said coach Bernard Laporte.
"The players will enter today's match with a strong determination to win it and to win it by a wide margin."
Going into today's last round of matches, France, triple crown winners Ireland and England have identical records of three wins and one defeat.
France lead on points difference with +42. Ireland, who play Italy in Rome, have +38 and England, away against Wales, +13.
"The grand slam would have been a bonus but they don't come easily. Our true objective was to win the championship for the third time in four years since the 2003 World Cup," said team manager Jo Maso.
With just one win over Wales, the Scots are out of contention for the title but coach Frank Hadden said: "We've picked a team to win. We will go over to Paris believing we can win the game."
Hadden has made seven changes to the team who lost 19-18 to Ireland last weekend at Murrayfield, drafting in centre Andrew Henderson, wing Nikki Walker, scrumhalf Rory Lawson, hooker Ross Ford and number eight Johnnie Beattie.
In two positional changes, captain Chris Paterson moves from wing to fullback in place of the injured Hugo Southwell while Rob Dewey migrates from inside to outside centre.
At France's Marcoussis training camp, where the atmosphere was described as "a bit more tense" by lock Lionel Nallet or "hardworking" by recalled number eight Imanol Harinordoquy, three players paid the price for the Twickenham defeat.
Scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili and number eight Sebastien Chabal were dropped from the squad and left wing Christophe Dominici was relegated to the bench.
Harinordoquy, whose only start this season was at flanker against Ireland, replaces Chabal, Cedric Heymans takes over from Dominici and back comes scrumhalf Pierre Mignoni who started the first three games.
Lionel Beauxis comes in at flyhalf for David Skrela, who sustained an ankle injury against England.
Beauxis, captain of the French team that won the under-21 World Cup last June, has been Skrela's understudy at Stade Francais since the start of the season and with the national team in the Six Nations, coming on in all four games.
"Saturday's match will be a good opportunity to see him playing a full game," Laporte said.
Reuters
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