France determined not to pay penalty

Jerome Thion will lead the French line-out charge against Ireland on Sunday with a clear rallying cry – no penalties.

The 25-year-old Perpignan lock epitomises the new disciplinary code enforced by coach Bernard Laporte.

Even though he operates in the most intense area of the field, Thion has developed a reputation for playing almost exclusively within the rules which, as he admitted, is exactly what Laporte is looking for.

“He doesn’t specifically tell us not to give penalties away but we know if it happens too often he will take action, not in a financial sense but either by taking us off or dropping us completely,” said Thion.

“We do a lot of video analysis of the tackle area and where and how infringements occur.

“When games are tight, conceding penalties can be costly so it is in all our interests not to give them away.”

Thion blasted his way into Laporte’s World Cup squad with a series of impressive late-season displays for his club side, who emerged as surprise Heineken Cup finalists only to fall at the last hurdle against Toulouse at Lansdowne Road.

Despite that setback, the Senlis-born second-row had done enough to win his first international cap against Argentina in June and has now managed to shove veteran former Northampton forward Olivier Brouzet out of the starting line-up.

It is a feat to be proud of, especially as Laporte and his coaching team have already highlighted the Irish set piece as the biggest threat to their own chances of making the semi-finals for the fourth time in five tournaments.

So concerned are the French camp that they nearly took the unprecedented step of naming five forwards among their seven replacements, just to cover every eventuality.

In the end, Laporte went for Patrick Tabacco ahead of Christian Labit for the back-row bench slot, purely because of the Stade Francais flanker’s superior expertise in the line-out.

“Ireland were extremely strong in the scrums and line-outs against Australia last week, so I guess we will modify our game plan slightly on Sunday and focus more on those areas,” revealed Thion.

“We also have to find a way of stopping Keith Wood because he was virtually omnipresent.”

The other slight fear that has nagged away at French minds is whether they are ready for such a bruising encounter.

After four relatively comfortable pool stage wins, it is impossible to know for certain where their game presently stands.

In contrast, Ireland, who have won three of the last four meetings between the sides, go into the game off the back of massive matches against Argentina and Australia, which could give them the edge in preparation.

“It is fair to say we have not had the same tough matches as Ireland,” said Thion.

“There is nothing we can do about that, although we did have two big warm-up games against England, so that may help us.”