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French flair at Murrayfield?
31/01/2008 18:15 - (SA)
Paris - If France takes the same risks with the ball against Scotland on Sunday that its coach Marc Lievremont has done with his new-look squad, then Murrayfield could get quite a show.
Becoming the first team to win a third straight Six Nations title outright would be a fine way for Lievremont to start his four-year contact. But long-term rebuilding seems more important to the former France backrower, who replaced Bernard Laporte after the team's fourth-place finish at the World Cup.
"We're not seeking victory at any price," Lievremont said in December of the Six Nations.
Fans are likely to tolerate lineup gambles by Lievremont, who will start four rookies against Scotland, if they restore creative playmaking and the famed "French flair" often lacking under Laporte.
Aside from an epic quarter-final defeat of New Zealand, Laporte's last campaign at the 2007 World Cup on home soil left little to crow about. Laporte's attempts to straitjacket France into a style of defensive play that England and South Africa mastered better just led to toothless rugby.
Lievremont has said he is determined to change that.
"We are not going to imitate the South Africans," he said. "The idea is to rebuild an identity of creative play, adapted to the qualities of French rugby but also effective."
Try to remain positive
Key to any success will be whether 21-year-old rookie flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc can show the same confidence in international rugby that caught Lievremont's eye while playing for his club, Montpellier.
"I always try to remain positive and avoid being frozen solid by negative pressure," Trinh-Duc said. "I try to play by instinct ... it's both a quality and a fault when I get carried away."
Trinh-Duc will have an experienced player on either side to help guide him, scrumhalf Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and inside centre Damien Traille.
Rookie props Julien Brugnaut and Lionel Faure make a new front-row with hooker William Servat, who gets his first cap since 2005 by filling the void left by the international retirement of Raphael Ibanez.
Other players who retired from the France team after the disappointment of the World Cup semifinal loss to England included lock Fabien Pelous, winger Christophe Dominici and flanker Serge Betsen.
That forced Lievremont to draft in fresh talent, although few expected him to rely as heavily on rookies as he has done. Headline writers have had fun with his choices, because "bleu" in French can refer both to the color of Les Tricolores' shirts and mean "inexperienced."
Lock Sebastien Chabal, who made a World Cup splash with his long hair and beard, if not for his play, was among those left out of Lievremont's new squad, which has lock Lionel Nallet as the new captain.
Flanker Thierry Dusautoir will be looking to build on the good impression he made at the World Cup. He scored against the All Blacks.
On the other flank, Fulgence Ouedraogo will earn just his second cap.
Lievremont expects commitment from his "Baby Blues" _ and teething problems.
"We are going to ask that they promise to deliver," Lievremont said. "We also want to tell them that we will bear part of the responsibility for their errors. They must innovate. They must make mistakes. That is how one progresses."
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Rugby
