All going sour in the city of love

It may be cold enough here in Paris to leave eskimos pining for the frozen tundra of their homelands but the hot air currently being generated by French rugby folk more than compensates for the polar conditions.

Less than four months on from France’s most improbable run to the World Cup final, former national team coach Marc Lievremont has returned to the thorny subject of his relationship with the players, with the publication this week of his version of events.

The timing alone is not likely to endear him any further to those players, the majority of whom will be taking to the (frozen) field at Stade de France tonight intent on continuing their winning start to the 2012 Six Nations campaign under new coach Philippe Saint-Andre with a victory over Ireland. But if the reviews are to believed, there was little chance of Lievremont feeling the love from his former charges in the first place, and nor would he be seeking it.