Taking care of business

NAPOLEON had Talleyrand, Louis XIII had Cardinal Richelieu and France rugby coach Bernard Laporte has as his chief advisor and fixer, the flamboyant former international centre Jo Maso.

While Laporte shouldn’t have to worry about the 58-year-old conspiring behind his back, unlike the other two, Maso has proved to be quite a survivor in the politics of French rugby.

Although both of his managerial colleagues from the 1999 World Cup, Jean-Claude Skrela and Pierre Villepreux, are still involved with the French set-up in some form, it is Maso who is the more public face as manager.

He has become more prominent since Laporte took over in November 1999 and adds the sugar to the coach’s acid remarks when things are not going well.

“I am more involved here than I was in 1999,” he said. “Then my role was more of a listener but now it is I who organises the midweek talk with the players and we put it all on the table and have a brainstorming session,” added Maso.

It is commonly held that opposites attract, and these two are no exception. Laporte is shaven-headed and lean while Maso still bears the mop of curly hair that marked his days as a cavalier centre and fly-half for Perpignan, Narbonne and France.

“He is my friend, there is no ambiguity about it,” Maso said movingly about his relationship with 39-year-old Laporte.

Laporte, for his part, was pleasantly surprised when he first met Maso, as he had been given some poor notices about him.

“They told me he was an egomaniac who didn’t understand the meaning of the word sharing. I found he was totally the opposite.”

Maso is as enthusiastic as a teenager when it comes to promoting the sport as he sees it as not just a thing of beauty but also setting an example to the young.

“It is very important that our sport lures young people into it,” said Maso, who won 24 caps scoring four tries and was a member of the first French side to win the Grand Slam in 1968, though he was injured for two of the matches.

“I acknowledge that when I fly over the Grenadine islands I am more likely to see young children kicking a football and not a rugby ball around but I would hope that by winning the World Cup we could encourage children into rugby schools.

“Rugby is different to football, not just in the level of its profile, but in its values, which I believe are tolerance, respect, friendship and generosity,” added Maso.

Maso has no time for cheats and those who take drugs to further their careers, being one of the first to speak out about creatine when it first reared its head in 2000.

“As long as I am manager of the French team there will be no place for anyone taking creatine,” he said.

On the pitch, France’s second-in-command to Fabien Galthie will win his 85th cap tomorrow at the tender age of 29.

Fabien Pelous is one of the veterans of the 1999 campaign to whom manager Jo Maso is looking to set an example to the younger players on the pitch.

Pelous, though, insists that every player, despite his relative experience or lack of it, in such high profile matches has responsibility for himself.

“It is important that all the players assume their own personal responsibilities once the match starts,” he said.

“As vice-captain I only feel the need to speak out during a match if things aren’t going well,” added Pelous, who replaced Raphael Ibanez as skipper in 2000 but was subsequently stripped of it himself as Bernard Laporte opted for Fabien Galthie.

Pelous is licking his lips at renewing rivalries with England.

“France v England is one of the great historical match-ups. They are confident and we are confident and in top form. However, once we are off the pitch, unlike with other adversaries, there is no mixing as the English want nothing to do with us,” he added.

However, that suits the 13-times French skipper fine as he isn’t too keen on a relationship outside the game itself.

“I don’t believe in having a friendship or contact with my opposite number, as that can influence the way one plays against him,” he said.

That doesn’t stop him, however, from having a grudging respect for England captain Martin Johnson, who will once again bend down in the English boiler room tomorrow against Pelous.

“It’s not so much his technical ability, which I think he is not so strong in. It’s his state of mind that he imposes on the game and infects his team with,” said Pelous, who is typical of the no-frills old-style player who just gets on with the basics and admits tackling is his passion.

Pelous has three Grand Slams under his belt and countless trophies with Toulouse, but a win in the World Cup would complete a full house of the international medals he needs to fill his cabinet.

“I knew before the World Cup that we would do something special. It was because we were clear in our own minds which direction we were going in and how to achieve that,” he added.

Pelous insisted that England were still the favourites and said all four semi-finalists were there by right despite what the media might say about England and Australia.

“England are still ahead of France while the Blacks are the best team in offence and the Wallabies are still there because they’re still winning.