Highland fling is worrying France

RBS Six Nations: France v Scotland: The start of a new Six Nations campaign is usually destined to throw Frenchmen of every age, shape and political persuasion into a tizzy. As former captain Fabien Pelous once said: "It is like the start of a new romance. You see a girl across the room, your eyes meet and you both know that everything is possible."

Pelous was obviously talking about the tantalising prospect of a Grand Slam or at the very least of a championship, all the more welcome in this World Cup year.

But the French view of today’s opening dance with Scotland at the Stade de France has been complicated somewhat by the presence of an old intimate on her arm.

That man is Vern Cotter, for eight years in charge of Clermont-Ferrand, a man who turned them from quite handy to champions of France and European heavyweights. This is the man who got Clermont playing some of the most destructive and attractive rugby on the continent and masterminded an extraordinary sequence of 77 matches unbeaten at home in the Top 14 – a record ended only in his final game in charge against Castres in last season’s play-offs. Now Cotter, a man with intimate knowledge of the French game, brings his Scotland team to Paris.

“Vern Cotter is a top coach. He loves France and he knows French rugby as well as anyone,” says France centre Wesley Fofana who was one of the cornerstones of Cotter’s Clermont side.

“He is always looking for that extra detail that might help you win a match. More than that, he finds that extra detail. He is more than capable of forming a plan to stop Fofana or any other player so we have to be awake to that.

“He has already got Scotland playing with plenty of movement. We have to be very vigilant. Scotland will be very complicated, more complicated than people might think.”

Another man wary of Cotter is his old Clermont number eight Damien Chouly who will be packing down for Les Rouges – yes the French will be playing in a new alternative red strip this evening.

“We know him but he knows us very well and maybe that is a small advantage for them,” says Chouly.

“He has a culture of winning and everyone at Clermont was able to buy into that. He will be trying to do the same thing with Scotland.

“He creates a good feeling between the players who work harder and become stronger because of that. He understands strategy; how to get players to stay on their feet, build phases and show some patience. And he is pragmatic.”

Pragmatism will be key for both sides, not least the French who are as capable of crawling into the gutter as they are of reaching for the stars. Coach Phillipe Saint-André, who has given the impression over the last three years of not having a clue what his best team is, has shown his own pragmatism by including three South Africans in his starting XV.

Flanker Bernard Le Roux, who at least sounds like a Frenchman, was first capped in New Zealand in 2013, while full-back Scott Spedding started all three of the autumn tests in November. These two are now joined by Castres scrum-half Rory Kockott, three times a replacement and now, with Sebastien Tillous-Borde injured, making his first start ahead of Morgan Parra.

The Rory Kockott-Camille Lopez pairing shows yet another half-back partnership – they had six different combinations in 11 Tests in 2014 – but the South African is one of those “awkward bastard” number nines that you hate to see lining up for the opposition. He may well take on kicking duties too. French or not, he may become a key player as the year unfolds.

His Castres number eight Johnnie Beattie and lock Richie Gray, though, will be happy to supply local knowledge to the Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw. It promises to be a fascinating duel.

Saint-André has also made a brave choice in the front row, leaving out the veteran Nicolas Mas, who captained the French in the opening Test against Australia last summer, and replacing him with the young tyro Rabah Slimani, who has grown up a bit since getting himself sent off against Italy last year.

As far as the tournament goes, the French don’t see themselves as favourite at all. Away matches in Dublin, Rome and Twickenham loom like bogeymen on the horizon. “We are just going to take things as they come,” says Fofana. “We are looking to make our strategy work and obviously try to win every match. If we lose a match then we will still be looking for the right ingredients to take with us to the World Cup. The Welsh are very costaud (tough), the English are favourites and the Irish will also be very difficult. We are in the same World Cup group as Ireland and Italy so psychologically perhaps it would be a big boost to beat them.”

Before that, though, they have a highland fling with Cotter and his cohorts to look forward to.