French players at odds with coach’s tactics

The championship table will show two wins out of three for France, yet they will be far from happy with another sub par performance which had them only four points to the good with three minutes of normal time on the clock.

To be fair, it was a major improvement from previous outings in that the passes stuck and, had Lamaison not missed six out of eleven kicks at goal, France would have been out of sight well before the finish.

Nevertheless, they started as if the ghosts of Lansdowne road had travelled with them to the Eternal city. Ibanez missed his jumpers with alarming regularity in the opening 20 minutes, which only served as a launch pad for the home side.

Leading the charge was the outstanding Bergamasco at openside, who constantly had France on the retreat and on this evidence will shortly be gracing either the French or English premier rugby divisions.

He was well supported by Checcinato and Persico and this back row trio had reduced France to fleeting visits to the Italian half. However, despite a wealth of possession in the opening 30 minutes, Italy just could not unlock a very mean French defence.

For all the trickery of Dominguez, the Italians do not have any major strike runners out wide, with the exception of Stoica, who was well marshalled by the French.

But France seem to be at odds with themselves or, more to the point, with Monsieur Laporte’s philosophy of sacrificing traditional French flair for a more disciplined and organised approach.

They are simply not comfortable with an approach that shackles their natural instinct to run with the ball, to entertain, to do the ‘beautiful’ rather than the mundane.

Fate perhaps, intervened, when, through an injury to Garbajosa, France had to call on veteran Jean Luc Sadournay to fill the full back berth.

He had retired from the international arena last autumn but had said that if his country needed him again, he would make himself available for selection.

Jean Luc’s display was a reminder that pace and counter attacking has always been France’s most lethal weapon.

Sadournay offered that counter attacking option from deep all afternoon, something that has been missing from the French game for some time now.

His colleagues responded to some extent, as if playing from memory, and it was the mercurial full back who was the provider for Bernat Salles and got the second himself.

To their credit, Italy never capitulated and, as long as Lamaison was missing kicks, they had something to play for.

Eventually they got their reward through a well worked try from winger Perzianno and suddenly France could sense another disaster looming.

Dominguez was causing havoc, toying with the French midfield and if he had the benefit of his Stade Francais colleagues rather than his countrymen, tries would have flowed.

France deserved the spoils in the end while Italy showed enough to suggest that they could trouble Wales in Rome. England will not be too concerned about the French. They are far more likely to fear Ireland should the tie be played.