Six Nations: Guy Noves brings spring clean to Les Bleus

When France’s new coach sets forward his plans for the national team, he does not speak of ambitions. Guy Noves has been around long enough to know he has a duty to the cause of picking up the pieces of his national team.

The man who presided over the great Toulouse teams of the 1990s and 2000s, leading them to four Heineken Cups and nine French titles during an astonishing 22-year reign is, on his 62nd birthday today, preparing for his debut as an international head coach with the mission of restoring pride in a once great rugby nation.

Noves comes to the Six Nations with impeccable credentials and the respect of rival coaches. He is lone among them in leading the country of his birth and has arguably the biggest job in front of him in rebuilding a team that has in the past four years under previous head coach Phillipe Saint-André stumbled from bad to worse.