We have discussed all-in-brawls, eye massaging and ‘ball tampering’ and I have hopefully dispelled a few myths and stereotypes. So now is time for the long awaited conclusion, and it is...

No. I don’t believe the French deserve a reputation for foul play. They are passionate and can occasionally show a willful disregard for consequences, but they are no dirtier than any other nation. Let me explain.

Rugby is a testosterone sport - and I don’t mean that it is filled with performance enhancing drugs.

Players spend the entire week lifting weights and building towards the 80 minutes that they will play on the weekend. Even non professional players know the need to ‘psych up’ before a match.  A quote from Vince Lombardi relating to American Football is equally applicable to rugby:

“Football is not a contact sport, it’s a collision sport – dancing is a contact sport”

When a player knows that he is about to have men the same size and bigger than him literally collide with his body, there is a need to get in the right headspace. This has been described as “psyching up” but really it comes down to a heightened aggression based on fear: Fear of being hurt; Fear of losing; Fear of letting down your teammates; Fear of being dominated by an opponent.

This aggression can lead to punches being thrown, or any of the other offences you occasionally see on a rugby pitch.

Personally, I don’t think the occasional display of overt aggression is particularly unexpected or anything to be ashamed of. Drive into the centre of town on a Saturday night and you’ll see plenty of examples of heightened aggression.

Where we differ as rugby players is in our respect for authority. Nine hundred and ninety nine times out of 1,000 when the little man with the whistle sternly waves a yellow piece of cardboard in the air, you’ll see the offending brutes - looking slightly abashed and chastened - troop off to sit in the corner for 10 minutes.

The other crucial difference is in our respect for each other. Rugby still has that magic of sharing a drink after the game and grudging approval, or unspoken acknowledgement, of your opposite number’s abilities. If he got one over you, it doesn’t make you want to find him in the car park after the game. Just you, him and your crowbar across his knees, that’ll teach him to step me... Sorry. What was I saying again?

Foul play will always exist in rugby – in every country and in every team. It is a result of aggression and a passionate desire to win. That the French have a reputation for some underhand tactics is probably due to a couple of bad apples and also because, as I have previously mentioned, they don’t really seem to care too much about the consequences.

Come to think about it……. rather than a reputation for foul play, this lack of respect for the consequences is what makes watching the French and their ‘French flair’ so exciting.