FRANCE HEAD COACH Philippe Saint-André says his team still possesses attacking flair, as they prepare to face Six Nations champions Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
The November Tests saw les Blues in strong form, notching wins against Fiji and Australia before losing out to Argentina in Paris.
The French defence was notably more organised than had been the case in the 2014 Six Nations and summer tour of Australia, while out-half Camille Lopez brought better balance to the French game plan in terms of his kick/pass/run options.
The overall impression was of a side reverting to Saint-André’s long-standing preference for an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ approach, in which the collisions are of primary importance.
Still, there were moments of daring attacking magic from Saint-André’s side, with Lopez providing many of them. Even more dangerous on the ball was left wing Teddy Thomas, who scored four tries in two games before being dropped.
On Saturday evening during their Six Nations opener against Scotland, France beat 21 defenders and offloaded the ball 19 times, although there was limited excitement in their game plan despite those statistics.
Saint-André insists les Blues have long been committed to playing open rugby.
“If you remember against England [in the 2014 Six Nations] the last try on 78 minutes [by Gaël Fickou], when we kept the ball for two and a half minutes, with some fantastic offloads, it was a good try,” says the former Toulon coach.
“There is still French flair in this squad and we showed in November that we can score a lot of tries.
“Our target is still to play an open game, because we have a new squad with young players who like to have the ball in their hands. We feel also that if we want to win the World Cup, it’s impossible just to be kicking the ball and be in defence.”
Among the relatively new faces is out-half Lopez, who continues to impress in the 10 shirt for both Clermont and France. The 25-year-old has taken a unique route to the top, having first come through in Fédérale 1 rugby [France's semi-professional third tier].
He signed for Bordeaux in 2009, helping them into the Top 14, then switched to Perpignan after making his France debut in New Zealand in 2013. A year later, and having been sidelined by an ACL injury, he moved on to Clermont.
Under Franck Azéma and Jono Gibbes in the Auvergne, Lopez has been in sublime form and poses a major threat to Ireland this weekend in Dublin.
I think Cami is a fantastic footballer,” says Saint-André of his out-half. “We knew for a long time, because we picked him in New Zealand two years ago, and afterwards he was injured and out for six months.
“He’s back, he’s doing a fantastic job for Clermont, he did a good job for France in November and we believe the he can carry us and be the man for the Six Nations. Cami is the out-half we think is the best at the moment to bring results for the French team.”
First published at 12.23
He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)