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.

Raphael Ibanez, the Castres hooker; Sylvain Marconnet, the Stade Francais prop; Toulouse second-row Fabien Pelous; flankers Serge Betsen (Biarritz) and Olivier Magne (Montferrand) and Toulouse half-back Frederic Michelak are just some of those who have crossed Irish paths on numerous occasions in recent times.

It's the same XV that started in the rout of Scotland, with a few changes on the bench, which Maso stated were made for “tactical reasons and because of the respect everybody here holds for the Irish team.”

He explained: “I have read somewhere that France are favourites but the Irish won the last time the teams met and we're not worried about who are the favourites.

"It's a quarter-final game in the World Cup, it's now sudden death and we will need to play with all the energy, pride and humility because we know the Irish are full of their own energy and pride and have some great players like O'Driscoll and Wood.”

Breaking plates and raucous cheering from Melbourne Cup parties in nearby suites, attended by stylishly dressed ladies and their male escorts, greeted almost every pronouncement which, of course, only added to the light-hearted and typically French tone at the press conference.

Laporte did his best to explain the reason behind the alterations on the bench: “Patrick Tabacco comes in for Christian Labit. Christian had an excellent game against the USA but we're looking for a fourth jumper in the line-out because this is an area in which Australia suffered against Ireland.

"We estimate there are about 30 line-outs per match so it’s very important should anyone get injured that there's another jumper waiting to come on."

In the centre, Brian Liebenberg had a good match against the Americans, so he stays on the bench ahead of Daniel Traille. Olivier Milloud is on the bench before Jean-Baptiste Poux on the basis of his strong defensive game.

There had been speculation in the French media that because it was Ireland who were providing the opposition, they might be tempted to choose five forwards among the replacements. Laporte admitted that they thought about it.

Irish fans who have come to admire the talents of Castres full-back Clement Poitrenaud may be surprised to hear he has been passed over for Nicolas Brusque and isn’t even a reserve. Laporte reasoned: “Clement had a good game against the US and ran the ball well out of his own 22.

"But we felt he might be slightly weaker in terms of the true running of the lines. Nicolas has played well so far and gives a certain stability in terms of comfort under the high ball, the timing of his run into the line and his kicking.”

Laporte was surprisingly non-committal when asked what lessons could be learned from the Irish performance against Australia. “They played a great match and nearly won.

“They’re strong opposition, they play very hard and they were very strong in the line-out. There won't be any great change in the preparations. The pressure may be stepping up and now the analysis will be on the Irish.”

While there is a huge amount of experience in the French side, there are one or two youngsters as well, most notably 21 year-old out-half Michalak, who will be recalled as the man who turned last year's Heineken Cup semi-final in Toulouse's favour against Munster when he switched from scrum-half to out-half.

Laporte has no worries about this richly talented footballer, whose versatility means the coach doesn’t need to include a half-back among his replacements.

“The pressure is mounting but there are several older players who are seen as internal leaders and will take some of younger guys under their wing and support them”, said Maso.

“Then there's the backs coach Bernard Vivies, who will spend a fair deal of time with Michalak, giving him the advice he needs. As the public and media interest grow, there will be more protection in that area in the days leading up to the match.”

There is plenty of experience in the side. Michalak's half-back partner is the 34 year-old captain Fabien Galthie who retires at the end of the World Cup. Prop Jean Jacques Crenca is also 34, Christophe Dominici and centre Tony Marsh are both 31, hooker Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne and Pelous turned 30 this year.

Reports that some of those players outside the 22 have been sulking and not co-operating with the management were dismissed by Jo Maso: “They are participating fully and supporting the 22.

"There are men in the squad capable of reacting like men and they may be frustrated or upset when they're not playing but then can let that pass and get on with supporting the team.”