French happy to avoid spotlight

France remain largely ignored as they tip-toe towards their third World Cup Final – and that is just the way Tony Marsh likes it.

Beaten finalists in 1987 and 1999, the French can book their place in the last eight of this year’s competition with victory over Scotland at the Telstra Stadium on Saturday.

With all the focus on hosts Australia, favourites England and fellow heavyweights New Zealand, no-one is taking too much notice of Bernard Laporte’s side.

And for Kiwi-born centre Marsh, a success story no matter what happens given his battle to overcome testicular cancer over the past 18 months, it is the perfect way to launch an assault on the Webb Ellis Trophy.

“I guess we are slipping under the radar a little bit and that suits us fine,” he said.

“No-one is paying us much attention, so hopefully we can sneak up on them later on because we truly believe we have as much chance of winning the World Cup as any of the bigger teams.

“People in France expect us to do as well as last time, which obviously means reaching the final, but I don’t think it is an unrealistic expectation that we should win it this time.”

The 31-year-old centre has won the admiration of the rugby world for the way he has come through a cancer fight which required chemotherapy treatment at the beginning of the year.

Marsh prefers not to talk about his illness for fear of it detracting from the French squad effort, though he insists his focus has not changed despite the severe nature of his treatment.

“I was out for a long time but I am here now,” he said.

“I want to put what has happened in the past behind me and get on with my rugby.”

Marsh’s presence in the French midfield will evoke memories of their triumphant 2002 Six Nations campaign in which his centre partnership with Damien Traille did so much to land Les Bleus the coveted Grand Slam.

Traille is only a replacement tomorrow though as Yannick Jauzion takes the centre slot alongside Marsh in a French backline with half-backs Fabien Galthie and Frederic Michalak at its axis.

Back-row trio Serge Betsen, Olivier Magne and Imanol Harinordoquy offer explosive pace from the back of the scrum and it is no wonder they have lost only one of their last six encounters with the Scots.

Magne though has taken some of the focus away from the game with his controversial comments about drug taking in the sport.

While leading rugby figures have closed ranks about the issue and insisted the 15-man code is clean, Magne has other ideas and claimed he would not be surprised if there was a positive test at some stage in the competition.

“When I see some players making progress in double-quick time, I wonder how they can manage it,” he said.

“I have a suspicion but for the time being I prefer to go no further. Money has become a more and more important stake in our sport and don’t be surprised if, unfortunately, a player is caught with drugs in his sample.

“There are some players who just don’t have scruples about destroying the reputation of our sport.”

Marsh has had more than his fair share of drugs over the past few months and the only performance-enhancing they have been doing is keeping him alive.

Rather than make him reflective and ambivalent towards his sporting career, cancer appears to have focused his mind, which is why he is so keen to make sure his adopted nation follow up their previous wins over Fiji and Japan with another triumph tomorrow.

“The Fiji game was pretty tough, Japan was the same because the smaller teams have a lot to prove,” he said.

“Scotland will be harder still because the stakes are so much higher. They had a disappointing Six Nations campaign and know they didn’t play to their capabilities. In many ways that will make it even harder for us.”