Inconsistency still an obstacle to French hopes

IF there’s one thing that’s predictable when it comes to the French and rugby it’s their unpredictability.

Ask the All-Blacks, who succumbed to a second-half blitz by ‘Les Blues’ in the 1999 World Cup semi-final.

The problem is the erratic streak runs both ways.

The drill is a familiar one. When all seems plain sailing, brace yourself for the storm. With two wins from two under their belts and 13 tries scored, the team Bernard Laporte built would appear to be steaming in the right direction.

That should take them to an encounter with the runners-up from Ireland’s Group A. Yet, should France’s campaign suddenly derail before that, nobody would be shocked.

For that reason, gambling on a win over Scotland this weekend wouldn’t be the safest of bets.

The question of inconsistency is something captain Fabien Galthie has had to deal with before, but he is still no nearer to an answer.

“I don’t know why we (are like that) exactly,” the scrum-half said yesterday. “Sometimes we play well, sometimes we have problems.

“It depends on quality and the capacity of a team’s players.

“We have the capacity to do well, but sometimes we don’t do that.”

Laporte and manager Jo Maso have chosen their most in-form side for the game that will effectively decide who wins Group B and avoids a likely clash with Australia in the quarter-final.

In all, seven changes in personnel have been made from the side that saw off Japan 51-19 in Townsville last Saturday. Whether the French adopt a different style as well as some different players in the starting 15 remains to be seen.

“Each game is different in a Word Cup so it depends. Fiji was a game for specific players, Japan was a game for fast players and Scotland are Anglo-Saxons and different still,” said Galthie. The French will surely hope that their captain calling our Celtic cousins ‘Anglo-Saxons’ will be their biggest mistake this week.

FRANCE v Scotland: N Brusque; A Rougerie, T Marsh, Y Jauzion, C Dominici; F Michalak, F Galthie; JJ Crenca, R Ibanez, S Marconnet; F Pelous, J Thion; S Betsen, O Magne, I Harinordoquy.