Pelous, Yachvili named as French double act
“Fabien will captain the side in Dublin but Dimitri will be in charge of leading our play,” coach Bernard Laporte said yesterday as the French assembled for a week of training in Marcoussis, south of Paris.
“To lose a player such as Fabien Galthie is a real blow but one has to look at the good side of things,” said coach Bernard Laporte yesterday. “I prefer to have to do without him now than during the World Cup. Dimitri will certainly learn a lot in Dublin.”
Lock Pelous, who has won 74 caps and captained France 15 times, was an obvious choice to replace Galthie.
But the 22-year-old scrumhalf Yachvili has won only two caps, coming on as a substitute for Galthie. The first was when France defeated Canada last November, the second against Scotland.
Son of a former international hooker and flanker, he plays club rugby for French champions Biarritz, whom he joined at the beginning of the season after a year with Gloucester.
“I shall do my best to face up to the task,” he said. “Things are happening very quickly. I’m trying to keep things in perspective, to go step by step.”
Pelous was France’s captain before Galthie took over in 2001.
“I have been there before,” he said wryly. “The last time I captained the team we lost to England in 2001. The team played badly and the captain was not a good captain. I think I committed myself too much as a captain and it undermined my play.
“I have to admit that my performances as captain have not been very good, apart from our win over New Zealand in Marseilles in November 2000.
“This time my priority will be to lead the team from the front. Dimitri will be free to lead our game.”
Laporte said he was not wary about fielding a scrumhalf without international experience alongside a flyhalf, Francois Gelez, who only has seven caps under his belt.
“Things could be worse,” he said. “I remember a Six Nations game in 2000 when we had to do without nine regular players, and our November tour in 2001 when seven players were injured in French championship games a week before our first test against South Africa.”
The French coach admitted his team would probably lack experience on Saturday, but added he would “rely more on youth and freshness”.
“I just want Yachvili and Gelez to be themselves, to play their game, to act as a scrumhalf and a flyhalf,” he said.
French ace Thomas Castaignede said: has tipped Ireland for the Six Nations Grand Slam if they beat Laporte’s side. “If Ireland beat us on Saturday I’d tip them for the Grand Slam, but if we can win at Lansdowne Road I’d go for a three-way tie between ourselves, England and the Irish.”
Laporte has to choose between Castaignede and Xavier Garbajosa as his centre pairing when he names his side today.
About their Irish opposition, Castaignede said: “Ireland’s front five are the most mobile in the championship. Perhaps they aren’t collectively as powerful as France or as experienced as England, but all round they are the best. Keith Wood’s absence is barely noticed.
“Ireland also have an in-form flyhalf in David Humphreys whose kicking and distribution are as good as anyone’s at present. He will give them opportunities to play a kicking game, which we lacked against England. He organises play well and gets his backs moving sweetly.
“On top of that the Irish are at home at Lansdowne Road and they boast Brian O’Driscoll, the best centre in the world. I’m not putting money on England for the Grand Slam.”
“If we win in Dublin, that's more pressure for England because Ireland won't be able to afford to lose two games in a row in World Cup year. If we lose in Dublin, England will arrive at the end of the month to face an Irish team on the verge of the grand slam.”
He says England will suffer because of the spate of injuries that has robbed them of their first-choice props and he believes England have yet to find an ideal midfield set-up.
“England have so far not looked to be at the same heights they reached last year,” he said.
And he thinks England might yet choke again. “Each time England's fingers get burnt. They seem fated to fall down just when the way looks open,” he said.
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