Laporte forced to revise his thinking on Ireland

FRENCH coach Bernard Laporte insisted yesterday he had never ruled Ireland out of his RBS Six Nations Championship calculations.

Laporte performed a spectacular u-turn after saying earlier this year that he would go into experimental mode for the World Cup after the Six Nations clash with England at Twickenham.

However, Laporte denied making any such statement yesterday, declaring: “I don’t know where those comments came from. I certainly never ruled out any of the other three countries.”

However, French journalists at the press conference in Dublin were adamant he was not misquoted: “He did say it all came down to the match with England.”

Laporte has obviously had a major re-think in the last few weeks following Ireland’s dynamic start to the campaign with comprehensive victories over Scotland and Italy.

One French journalist noted: “I don’t think Bernard had any choice. He has seen Ireland get two big wins away from home and they have scored a lot of tries. I suspect he has thought about the whole situation in a more rational manner, but he knows that France are still capable of winning the championship.

“Ireland are now the team best positioned to stop them. If France win or lose, I think he might make changes for the remaining matches against Wales and Italy with the World Cup in mind, but he is not prepared to take any chances at Lansdowne Road. Not now.”

Certainly Laporte played down the French chances of running away from Ireland at Lansdowne Road tomorrow, despite the 44-5 victory in Paris last season: “I don’t think that match is important. We were on our way to complete a Grand Slam and nothing was going to stop us. The score didn’t matter and the only important thing was that we won.”

Laporte made it clear that his side will have to be at their best to get the better of Ireland: “I think some people don’t appreciate how good Ireland really are. They have a good pack and a lot of good players behind the scrum. Looking through the side, they appear to be very well balanced.”

Laporte is convinced the French need to improve: “I thought we did well against England in Twickenham in all the set pieces, but we lost. We didn’t quite do the same against Scotland, but still managed to win. Lansdowne Road is a difficult place to play. Ireland have found a balance and seem to score a lot of tries without conceding many. It will make it very difficult for us.”

Laporte is not worried about the untried half-back partnership for Les Bleus. Fabien Galthie is ruled out as captain and scrum-half and replaced by rookie Dimitri Yachvili, paired by Francois Gelez.

“I don’t see that as a big problem,” said Laporte, “it’s a chance for both players to make their mark and stake a claim for our World Cup squad. Sometimes you have injuries and sometimes the people coming in make a huge impact. We would not pick these people unless we were confident they were good enough. Everyone has to start somewhere.”

Laporte is convinced Ireland pose a really serious threat: “I think they have made a great start to the season and are always hard to beat at Lansdowne Road. These are two good sides and both have a chance of achieving something. We can still win the championship and Ireland have sights on a Grand Slam. That makes the occasion something really special.

“It should be a very good match because there is so much at stake. We will go out to win because this is our last chance, but Ireland can never be treated lightly in Dublin,” he said.

The view was shared by new captain Fabien Pelous, a man with considerable experience of Irish rugby at Heineken Cup and international level.

“I have played at different levels against many of these Irish players. We all consider Brian O’Driscoll to be the best centre in the world, but we know there are others who can do damage as well. The Irish have a good pack based on very good sides like Munster and Leinster. They have quality backs also and these people are no longer as predictable as the Irish players might have been a few years ago.

“They play the game a bit like us: they take chances and that makes it really difficult to defend against.

“Also, there is the problem of playing in Dublin. The atmosphere is always electric for the home team and we certainly need to keep our discipline at all stages of the game.

“We cannot afford to let our concentration slip for any part of the game. Ireland will have most of the support and they seem to thrive on that. When you put the home support together with a high quality team, it means we will have to play at our very best to beat them.”