French feeling the strain, says Chabal

SEBASTIEN CHABAL admits France’s preparations for today’s RBS 6 Nations match against trans-Alpine rivals Italy have been far from serene.

Aside from the hard-fought comeback victory over Wales on matchday three, it has been a tournament to forget for Marc Lievremont’s French side, who are by no means guaranteed two points against the fired-up Italians at the Stadio Flaminio.

The wind has been completely knocked out of Les Bleus’ sails following the panning they have received in the aftermath of their 34-10 defeat to England last Sunday.

Frowns have replaced the smiles to be seen at their training base at Marcoussis after the Wales win, and Chabal does not hide the fact that France are struggling for positivity ahead of tomorrow’s match in Rome.

“There remains one match left to play but it will be difficult having seen our last display,” said the Sale forward, who will be back in the second row tomorrow after the unsuccessful experiment of playing him as a flanker against England.

“It hasn’t been an easy week. We haven’t been speaking too much and it hasn’t been as happy as normal.

“We must focus on Italy but (the England defeat) is still there. You need time to digest a result like that.”

While France remain as enigmatic as ever, Italy coach Nick Mallett fears their defeat to England makes them even more dangerous. “I’m nervous France will have a reaction to the bad game they played against England,” he said.

“I understand the Latin nature. If you play badly then the next game you come back and play really well.

“We have tried all week to talk to the team and (captain) Sergio (Parisse) spoke to the team and told them not to make the mistake that because we’ve done well against Wales we’ll automatically play well against France.

“It’s important for us to realise why we played well against Wales and try to do those things again.”