Wary France play it cool

RENOWNED Bondi Beach, a few miles outside of Sydney, was the spectacular setting yesterday for the utterly predictable French selection to face Ireland in the quarter-final of the World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.

Little wonder everything was so low-key at the Swiss Grand Hotel. The French have yet to suffer any of the tension of Ireland’s last two games, although if coach Bernard Laporte or manager Jo Maso regards this as something of a disadvantage, they weren’t showing any signs yesterday.

The French team is full of names familiar to the Irish players and supporters from Heineken Cup matches between the countries over the past seven or eight years.