French have light workout

2005-06-14 21:27

Michael Green

Durban - The French rugby players hardly worked up a sweat in their training session on Tuesday.

The Tricolors trained for nearly two hours on Tuesday, but with no intensity.

Coach Bernard Laporte initially gave a lot of attention to ball distribution and his defensive pattern, but the training was done at a leisurely jogging pace.

This was followed by a few lineout sessions while the backs kept themselves busy with a few moves.

When the French arrived on Monday Laporte said "they would have to concentrate hard in training." Maybe the players concentrated hard on Tuesday, but their training did not show that.

The goal kickers, with captain and scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili fairly accurate, practiced their skills for a while and flyhalves Yann Delaigue and Frederic Michalak tried their luck with drop kicks.

One could hardly read anything from the practice session. The forwards are not very big and the Boks will probably have a weight advantage.

The talented flank Yannick Nyanga, whose name means either moon or witch doctor in Zulu, did not take part in any contact sessions.

He jogged with the rest of them and jumped out of the way when the forwards went on the drive - albeit at a walking pace.

The French media official insisted there was nothing wrong with Nyanga, but it was obvious something was troubling him.

The short centre Florian Fritz drew a lot of attention. He is a pocket rocket who reminds one of the former Blue Bull centre Tjokkie van der Merwe.

Fritz looks like a speedster and he will have to be watched in midfield.

- Die Burger