French coach Laporte urges players to take the pressure

FRANCE coach Bernard Laporte has challenged his players to handle the pressure as they look to secure the RBS 6 Nations Championship title against Wales, at the Millennium Stadium, on Saturday.

Les Bleus top the standings on points difference, over Ireland, and victory against Wales in Cardiff would hand them their third title in five years - unless the Irish rack up a cricket score against England, at Twickenham.

Laporte’s men are still not entirely convincing in this year’s tournament, despite their lofty position in the standings. Even in their 31-6 win against England, in Paris last Sunday, France were solid rather than spectacular and seemed content to capitalise on their opponents’ mistakes.

They are clear favourites to finish top of the standings now and Laporte appreciates that his players will have to shoulder the expectations that go with that tag.

“Whoever the opponents are, pressure is good if you want to win,” he said.

“If we want a result, we must have pressure on our shoulders. The Wales game is very important for us, but we must be careful because the game next week will not necessarily be the same as the one we’ve just had [against England].

“The most satisfying thing for me about the England game, was our capacity to be strong for 80 minutes.

“We did not let the pressure drop and I am satisfied with this fighting spirit.”

Wales are a shadow of the side that claimed grand slam honours last year; the disappointing 18-18 draw against Italy, last weekend, summing up their campaign.

However, if they had made the most of their chances in the first half, the Welsh could have won at a canter and Laporte is wily enough not to underestimate the reigning champions.

“I saw the first half of the Wales-Italy match and Wales played well,” he said, “They had lots of opportunities to score and could have been 40 points ahead.”

France’s team is expected to be named today.

Meanwhile, the assistant Wales coach Clive Griffiths admits that it has been very difficult watching the team go from Grand Slam heroes to championship also-rans in the space of just 12 months.

A win over France on Saturday would put a gloss on a forgettable season for the Welsh.

Griffiths said: “Last year we had all the luck and all the play. This year we have had disastrous luck with injuries.

“A few decisions haven’t gone our way and there have been three or four tries we have conceded that shouldn’t have been given.

“It’s not our year. It would have been a magnificent achievement to have back-to-back Grand Slams or championships.

“But realistically it was always going to be difficult with England and Ireland away.”

Last year, Wales pulled off one of the great comebacks to win a famous game at the Stade de France.

And Griffiths is expecting a similar challenge this year from a France team that has yet to hit top form, despite their 31-6 trouncing of England, last Sunday.

“We have got to make sure we nail them down to the floor and make sure there are a lot of ordinary moments on the weekend.

“We have got to show the sort of resolute defence we did in Paris.

“Anything short of their best and it’s going to be a difficult time for us.

“A win by a point is good enough. End of story.”

Wales head into this clash without scrum-half Dwayne Peel, who is the seventh Lions player who has been unavailable to the Welsh management at some stage of the championship.

The side is due to be unveiled at lunchtime today, with Mike Phillips set to start his first Six Nations match.

He came on after just eight minutes of the clash with Italy, when Peel injured a shoulder that will rule him out for up to four weeks.

The other injury worry for Wales is a knee injury to wing Mark Jones, who has been monitored in training. With Phillips promoted to the starting line-up, Wales will have to decide whether Bath’s Andy Williams or Matt Powell from Worcester take up the scrum-half spot on the replacements bench. Another change that could be on the cards is the return of Llanelli number eight Alix Popham to the side, after he impressed as a replacement against Italy.

Whether that means he ousts skipper Michael Owen remains to be seen, but Popham offers a much better ball-handling and defensive option.