Six Nations:
Tinkering
Lièvremont rings the changes for England and Italy games
05 March 2009
Tinkering France head coach Marc Lièvremont has kept his
promise to make changes to his squad for the England game,
despite a
heroic showing by his charges in Paris
last week.
Out go
Clement Poitrenaud, Benoit Baby, Fulgence Ouedraogo and
Louis Picamoles, with Florian Fritz, Damien Traille, Jerome
Thion and Julien Bonnaire all called up instead.
Lièvremont's preference for experience is clear, and the
head coach said it was very much a horses for courses
selection. He also insisted that those dropped had not, in
fact, been ‘dropped’ per se, but rather had been ‘rested’.
Well, I’m sure the players in question will see it that way
too.
Baby,
who started at fly-half against Wales, is actually out of
contention due to injury so Lièvremont has a point in this
particular instance, but with only one other No 10 in the
squad it means a starting place for Francois Trinh-Duc, who
generally impressed after coming on in Paris.
Fritz
is recalled after completing his three-week ban, but will
have to squeeze past Mathieu Bastareaud – never an easy
trick – to get into the starting XV after the Stade Francais
youngster enjoyed a superb debut.
Traille’s recall suggests Lièvremont has booked him in as
potential cover for Trinh-Duc and Maxime Médard
– at fly-half or full-back – given the Biarritz player’s
versatility, while the jettisoning of Ouedraogo and
Picamoles for the more experienced Thion and Bonnaire hints
at the coach’s desire for a more street-wise pack to take on
England.
Martin
Johnson’s crew may be struggling for consistency at the
moment – except in their unwanted accumulation of yellow
cards – but England traditionally save their best for ‘Les
Bleus’ and have won both of their previous two games against
France.
“We
want to say to those who leave the squad that they haven’t
disappointed us, that they haven’t been dropped,” said
Lièvremont. “But we have said we were keen to inject some
life into this squad, to involve those players who deserve
their recalls.”
He
added that the selections were based on “current form” and
confirmed that tyro scrum-half Morgan Parra would again be
handed the kicking duties after his successful performance
in the 21-16 victory over Wales.
‘Caveman’ Sebastien Chabal, meanwhile, is set for a back-row
slot after playing at lock in the opening three games, while
Lièvremont said the selection of in-form Bonnaire in place
of Ouedraogo was a “logical rotation”.
The
head coach hopes to retain the same squad for France's final
Six Nations game against Italy too, although injuries are
sure to have their way – beginning with this weekend’s Top
14 games.
He will
have a particularly beady eye on the Perpignan-Toulouse
clash on Friday night, although Lièvremont is bound to have
been cheered by Guy Noves’ decision to rest Médard,
Thierry Dusautoir, Cédric
Heymans and Yannick Jauzion.
France squad
Backs: Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Damien
Traille (Biarritz), Maxime Médard, Cédric Heymans (both
Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Français), Florian
Fritz, Yannick Jauzion (both Toulouse), Francois Trinh-Duc
(Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Sebastien
Tillous-Borde (Castres).
Forwards: Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Julien Bonnaire
(Clermont-Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Imanol
Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse),
Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz),
Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvain
Marconnet (both Stade Français), Thomas Domingo
(Clermont-Auvergne), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Lionel
Faure (Sale).
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