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International: History
beckons for confident France; Gower retains fly-half slot
for Italy
18 June 2009
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Winning mentality:
Sebastien Chabal
Photo: Michael Paler |
France’s victorious rugby stars
were pelted with plastic bottles and fruit by a section of
disgruntled Kiwi fans after last weekend’s
surprise win over the All Blacks,
but Sebastien Chabal says they can throw what they like… as
long as Les Bleus win again.
The giant lock has been
named as one of three changes in France’s starting XV for
Wellington, signalling a slight change of tack by coach Marc
Lièvremont as they seek to record their first series win in
New Zealand since 1994.
Part of the secret to
their surprise win in Carisbrook was, he believes, down to
the French focusing on their own game rather than their
opponents’ reputation. Chabal was a second-half substitute
in Dunedin and he said Les Bleus were confident they could
put in a repeat performance.
“We will be focused on
our game and not on the All Blacks game. I think is why we
won last Saturday,” said Chabal. “We were really aggressive
in the contact area. That was the key for the game. But we
know the game will be much harder than last week,” added the
31-year-old.
Last time France were
in Wellington they were thrashed 61-10 in 2007 and Chabal is
determined to erase those unhappy memories. A second win
would more than make up for that disappointment, and
‘Seabass’ believes ‘Les Bleus’ are swimming in the right
direction.
“When you start a tour
with a win you have to be much more confident. We know it
will be really difficult on Saturday but I think we will
play hard because we’ve trained really well and really
hard,” he said.
And as far as the
missile throwing goes, Chabal knows that another pelting
will mean more misery for the All Blacks and joy for Les
Bleus. “If we win they can throw what they like at us – it’s
not a problem,” he added.
Lièvremont's other team
changes for the Westpac confrontation see Perpignan pair
Maxime Mermoz and Nicolas Mas come in Mathieu Bastareaud and
Sylvain
Marconnet respectively, while.
Remy Martin and Damien
Chouly are both added to the subs’ bench.
"We have
kept most of the team together but we realise that we need
to bring some fresh legs in,” explained Lièvremont.
The new
faces should help guard against over-confidence, although
the All Blacks’ fearsome reputation and a ‘could do better’
match report from French backs coach Emile N’Tamack will
also keep them on their toes.
"It was not a great performance for the
backs. I think we maybe just played 60 percent of what we
can do," he said.
"We didn't play a lot of ball. We kicked a
lot and we put pressure on in defence but I think we can
maybe mix it up a bit more - pick when we move the ball and
when we must kick the ball.
"We have the weapons to play great rugby and
that's what I want to see in the next game," added N’Tamack,
who played in the historic 1994 series win.
Now he believes the current squad have the
belief and talent to emulate (or even surpass) their feats.
"We are on tour to write a new page of French history and
for that we need not just one win, maybe two and certainly
three. That would be the greatest exploit we can do for
rugby," he said.
It would be a huge coup to emerge with a 2-0
series win, especially after a disappointing Six Nations,
but N’Tamack knows the All Blacks will have been stung by
last weekend’s defeat, and the ensuing criticism.
"I understand for the All Blacks it's like a
tragedy when they lose - for them, for the country, for
everyone in New Zealand. So to lose once is hard, to lose
twice it would be incredible,” said the former winger.
All Blacks backs coach Wayne
Smith, meanwhile, believes his side suffered at Carisbrook
because they struggled to contain France’s rush defence.
"The thing is, you have choices about how you
play and if teams are up flat and fast and pushing those
boundaries you have got to adapt to that.
"That was what we struggled with, the ability
to adapt. Whether it's experience or lack of coaching time I
don't really know but that's what we're working on at the
moment," he said.
Smith would like to see his players become
more flexible, although within a clearly understood game
plan. "The game we have coached is a game that is based on
an understanding of what space there is, a defence gives you
that space, and we've done that pretty well," he added.
France XV:
15 Maxime Medard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12
Damien Traille, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9
Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6
Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4
Sebastien Chabal, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien
Barcella.
Subs:
16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Remy Martin, 19
Damien Chouly, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22
Mathieu Bastareaud.
Italy
have followed Australia’s lead by making wholesale
team changes for Saturday’s second Test, although Craig
Gower remains at fly-half.
The former
Australian rugby league star is one of only five players to
retain their starting positions for the Azzurri in
Melbourne. Australian-born full back Luke McLean is another.
Australia won the first Test 31-8 in
Canberra.
Italy XV:
Luke McLean, Giulio Rubini, Gonzalo Canale, Gonzalo Garcia,
Alberto Sgarbi, Craig Gower, Tito Tebaldi, Sergio Parisse
(capt), Simone Favaro, Jean Francois Montauriol, Marco
Bortolami, Tommaso Reato, Fabio Staibano, Franco Sbaraglini,
Matias Aguero.
Subs:
Leonardo Ghiraldini, Salvatore Perugini, Quintin Geldenhuys,
Alessandro Zanni, Giulio Toniolatti, Kris Burton, Roberto
Quartaroli.
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