Restored Magne driven by wounded pride

FRANCE flanker Olivier Magne has admitted his pride was hurt after being dropped for Les Bleus’ win over Wales.

However, he is eager to prove his worth when the French take on Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday as they take aim at the Grand Slam.

The Montferrand player was snubbed by coach Bernard Laporte, who left him on the bench for the 29-22 victory over Wales on March 6.

Now Magne, who has 75 caps, wants to show he is a key player for France, believing his performance against Ireland had not merited his being dropped.

“In the first two matches I felt I had performed well individually and there was a lot of enthusiasm collectively,” he said.

“When Bernard told me I would be a substitute against Wales it hurt my pride. When you’ve worn the blue shirt for as long as that, and then you’re told it’s something that hits you quite hard.”

The Frenchman, who put in a convincing performance for 21 minutes against Wales after Imanol Harinordoquy pulled out, prompting Laporte to give him another chance, insists he has no feeling of revenge.

“I did not discuss Bernard’s decision, he did not have to justify himself for not making me start the clash.

“I don’t want to take my revenge this weekend, I am not asking for anything, I just want to show my potential,” he said.

The Scotland match will be a must-win for France, who became the Grand Slam favourites after winning the first three matches over Ireland (35-17), Italy (25-0) and Wales, while the hopes of England, the defending champions, suffered when they lost to Ireland on March 6.

On the injury front scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who suffered a serious thigh injury against Wales and has been ruled out the rest of the season, is replaced by Dimitri Yachvili. Doubts remain on substitute Clement Poitrenaud who has a thigh injury.

In the meantime, Scotland head coach Matt Williams admits he would like to see an end to the constant speculation concerning where to play captain Chris Paterson.

The Edinburgh Gunners player, who has won most of his 33 inter-national caps at wing, has been playing at his favoured stand-off position in this year’s RBS 6 Nations Championships.

However, after losing their first three games it was expected that the Scotland coach would move his skipper back to the wing and bring in Dan Parks to the stand-off position.

Williams, however, will keep Paterson at number 10 for the game against France at Murrayfield on Sunday and is adamant too much is being made of his captain’s supposed dilemma.

“We wanted more thrust from the back line and in the game against Italy we weren’t getting the pace and angles from the back three that were quired and we did consider moving Chris back to full-back for these reasons.”