6N Preview: France v Italy
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:57
Chasing a slam: French stars Clement Poitrenaud and Morgan Parra
Chasing their first Grand Slam since 2004 and with two home games to come, the French are confident of going a step further with a home victory over Italy in the Six Nations championship in Paris on Sunday.
France have turned in some impressive displays in the tournament so far, including a 33-10 drubbing of defending champions Ireland and a thrilling 26-20 victory over Wales in Cardiff.
Although Italy have never beaten the French in the Six Nations, the hosts are keen to downplay the hype that surrounds them.
Despite picking up 14 injuries in their three victories so far, the French have decided not to rest many of their stars for Sunday's game at the Stade de France, where the Italians have never beaten them.
Although burly centre Mathieu Bastareaud is fit again after a calf muscle injury, he can only make the bench with coach Marc Lievremont starting David Marty alongside Yannick Jauzion.
Marc Andreu starts for the first time on the wing in the only other change from the side that came away from Wales with a 26-20 victory a fortnight ago.
France coach Marc Lievremont admitted he did consider some changes to rest a few key players, but decided against the move.
"We thought about rotating the forwards, but we favoured a form of continuity," Lievremont said.
A victory over the Italians will make it four out of four in the championship with the French the only team able to do the Slam.
France's captain Thierry Dusautoir says his team are not even thinking about winning a Grand Slam.
"I hear the Grand Slam being talked about everywhere, among the journalists and among the public," said the Toulouse back row forward.
"Among us [the players], we don't dare to talk about it openly but we're not completely unaware of what people are saying. We hear what's said, we read the papers.
"What we need is a bit of perspective. I know that perspective doesn't really sell papers but we must not put the cart before the horse."
Lievremont has been criticised for using over 70 players since taking over from Bernard Laporte in 2007 and the 39-year-old has made two changes to his starting line-up from the Wales game, bringing in Castres wing Marc Andreu for his first start and experienced centre David Marty.
The French coach is keen to highlight the threat posed by the Italians and said his side would not taking the game lightly.
"I have always said that this match is the one where we could fall into a trap," said Lievremont, who recorded three consecutive wins for the first time during his tenure when France defeated the Welsh.
"We are not taking anything for granted. We are extremely vigilant. We saw how hard they pushed the English," he said, referring to England's narrow 17-12 win in Rome.
"We remember also how two years ago we were snapped at all through the match at the Stade de France by the Italians."
However, Italy coach Nick Mallett was realistic about his side's ambitions, despite their win over Scotland in the last round - only the Italians' seventh in 53 Six Nations matches.
"For us it is the most important challenge for us in this year's tournament," said Mallett.
"France will probably win the Grand Slam this year. If we stay competitive in the scrum and in the line-outs and limit the defeat to 10-15 points then that will be a good performance."
But Mallett, who won the Tri-Nations in a successful spell at the helm of South Africa, denied he was waving the white flag prematurely.
"I am just being realistic. The rhythm and quality of Italian rugby is so low that the players are not prepared for the rigours of international level," said Mallett.
"Given that the fact that we are able to push other teams so hard is frankly miraculous."
Players to watch:
For France: You have a backline that could, potentially, be devastating on attack - Clement Poitrenaud from fullback, David Marty and Yannick Jauzion in midfield, along with the halfback pairing of Francois Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra. But it is up front where the real danger lies for the Italians - No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy, flanks Julien Bonnaire and Thierry Dusautoir, and last but not least the front row of Nicolas Mas, William Servat and Thomas Domingo. And then, off the bench comes hardened men like Dimitri Szarzewski, Sebastien Chabal, Dimitri Yachvili and Mathieu Bastareaud.
For Italy: You will look at the senior players - the Bergamasco brothers, Mauro and Mirco, with 82 and 69 caps respectively, Marco Bortolami with his 80 Tests worth of experience, Gonzalo Canale (54 caps), Martin Castrogiovanni (65 caps), Carlo Antonio Del Fava (43 caps), Andrea Masi (49 caps), Fabio Ongaro (67 caps) and Salvatore Perugini (69 caps). With that kind of experience they should make a good first of it.
Head to Head: There is no doubt that any game featuring the grizzled old tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy) will have plenty of focus on the front row, where he will be up against the relatively inexperienced Thomas Domingo (France) - it is 65 Tests worth of experience against the raw power of an eight-cap 'rookie'. However, the game is likely to be won or lost at halfback - flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc and scrumhalf Morgan Parra (France) against No.10 Craig Gower and No.9 Tito Tebaldi (Italy).
Six Nations results:
2009: France won 50-8, Rome
2008: France won 25-13, Paris
2007: France won 39-3, Rome
2006: France won 37-12, Paris
2005: France won 56-13, Rome
2004: France won 25-0, Paris
2003: France won 53-27, Rome
2002: France won 33-12, Paris
2001: France won 30-19, Rome
2000: France won 42-31, Paris
rugby365.com Prediction: Yes, complacency is an issue and the French are prone to the occasional bout of madness. However, form and overall experience makes this a comfortable win for France. The French by at least 15 points.
Teams
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Marc Andreu, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3
Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Julien Malzieu
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain) 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Kaine Robertson.
Date: Sunday, March 14
Kick-off: 14.30 (14.30 GMT)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Expected weather: Cloudy, but only 10 percent chance of precipitation. High
of 10°C and a low of 4°C
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
By AP, AFP and rugby365.com
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