The
energy-sapping 2009/10 season will finally grind to a halt
on Saturday for France's rugby players, with 'Les Bleus'
taking on Argentina in Buenos Aires as they seek to restore
pride to the nation's disillusioned sports fans.
The
public disgrace of France's bickering and inept football
squad has led to a national outcry here this week, but Marc
Lièvremont's team have the opportunity to lift the mood with
a victory against the Pumas on Saturday night.
A win
would also help dissipate some of the disappointment of
their recent 42-17 hammering by South Africa in Cape Town,
although Lièvremont has already stated that result has
"ruined" their summer tour.
The
coach was not amused by the team's lack of cohesion, or
effort, and has thus made sweeping changes to his starting
XV for Saturday's game. Most notably he has named a new-look
centre pairing of Lionel Mazars and Florian Fritz, while
Jérôme Porical comes in for his first start at full-back in
place of Clement Poitrenaud, and winger Julien Malzieu
replaced club colleague Aurélien Rougerie out wide.
The
latter was initially named on the bench, but has now gone
home to be his pregnant wife, paving the way for Poitrenaud
to be added to the subs list. Replacement fly-half David
Skrela has also withdrawn, due to gastro-enteritis, with
centre Maxime Mermoz named in his place. That presumably
means that replacement scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili will
double up as fly-half cover as well.
Lièvremont admitted there were plenty of tired bodies among
the French squad after such a lengthy season, but hoped the
players could find one last effort to end on a high note.
Captain Thierry Dusautoir echoed his coach's sentiments but
added that "there is always a minimum that my French team
must achieve".
Perpignan prop Nicolas Mas admitted the squad had been
downcast after their trouncing by South Africa. "The week
that followed the match in Cape Town was difficult for
everyone. The group has been affected by this defeat," he
told rugbyrama. "Our season began a year ago and we
all want to go home, but there is 80 minutes to play and we
want revenge. We want to show that we have the resources and
we need to finish on a good note," he added.
Fellow
starting prop Fabien Barcella said it was "vital" to win,
regardless of how the result was achieved. "Without the
victory there will be some doubt about our season," he
added.
Argentina will also be desperate for a victory after losing
successive home Tests against Scotland - 16-24 and 9-13 -
results which saw them slip from seventh to ninth in the IRB
rankings. Coach Santiago Phelan has, like Lièvremont, wrung
the changes in an effort to get an improved showing.
Fly-half and captain Felipe Contepomi starts
despite going off injured last weekend, but former Brive
winger Horacio Agulla, scrum-half Agustin Figuerola and
Stade Francais number eight Juan Manuel Leguizamon are all
dropped. Rafael Carballo and former Montauban number eight
Alejandro Campos come in for Agulla and Leguizamon
respectively, while new Stade Toulousain signing Nicolas
Vergallo takes over at scrum-half.
With so
many of Argentina's players plying their trade in France
there will be a certain familiarity among the players, with
the likes of Toulon duo Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Contepomi
lining up alongside Stade Francais' Rodrigo Roncero, Stade
Toulousain's Patricio Albacete and Clermont Auvergne's
Martin Scelzo in the Pumas' team.
France
won 12-6 the last time these two sides met - in Marseille in
2008 - but Argentina have won six of their last eight
clashes.
Argentina starting XV: Martin Rodriguez-Gurruchaga;
Lucas Amorosino, Gonzalo Tiesi, Santiago Fernandez, Rafael
Carballo; Felipe Contepomi (capt), Nicolas Vergallo;
Alejandro Campos, Juan Fernandez-Lobbe, Genaro Fessia,
Albacete, Manuel Carizza, Martin Scelzo, Mario Ledesma,
Rodrigo Roncero
Subs: Agustin Creevy, Marcos Ayerza, Juan Figallo,
Mariano Galarza, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Agustin Figuerola,
Horacio Agulla
France starting XV: Jérôme Porical (Clermont Auvergne);
Vincent Clerc
(Stade Toulousain), Florian Fritz (Stade Toulousain), Lionel Mazars
(Bayonne), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne); Francois Trinh-Duc
(Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Louis Picamoles (Stade
Toulousain), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Stade
Toulousain), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Métro 92), Pascal Papé (Stade
Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais),
Fabien Barcella (Biarritz)
Subs: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Jean-Baptiste Poux
(Stade Toulousain), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne),
Grégory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), Dimitri Yachvili
(Biarritz), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Clément Poitrenaud
(Stade Toulousain)
Venue: Estadio José Amalfitani (Buenos Aires)
Kick-off: 20.45
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
