Lievremont goes for that French flair

Mar 13 2008 Western Mail

FRANCE have named a new half-back partnership and left star back Cedric Heymans on the bench as they look to wrest the Six Nations championship crown from the clutches of Wales on Saturday.

The team looks arguably the strongest Les Bleus have put out all tournament, but as usual coach Marc Lievremont delivers a couple of surprise choices.

Heymans, who excelled in the early stages of the Six Nations before being rested for last weekend’s win over Italy, is unable to oust Anthony Floch at full-back on his return and must settle for a place among the substitutes.

And in the pack, Montpellier’s Fulgence Ouedraogo is retained despite the return to the squad of Clermont-Auvergne No 8 Elvis Vermeulen, who must also be content with the bench.

Fly-half David Skrela comes in for Francois Trinh-Duc, who looked to have made the No 10 jersey his own after an impressive display against the Italians.

And he will combine with Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at half-back, with the Toulouse scrum-half having got the nod over Dimitri Yachvili, another stand-out performer on Sunday.

Of the decision to go with Floch, who started for the first time for France in the match against the Azzurri, Lievremont said, "Anthony had a very good game against Italy and I want to see him again. But Cedric still has a big part to play."

Floch said, "I did well against Italy, I took my chance. They want me to continue and I hope I can keep going."

Lievremont added Ouedraogo was keeping Vermeulen on the bench because of the youngster’s amazing workrate.

"He is very, very active," the coach said. "We are relying on him to counter the quality back row of the Welsh with his speed of positioning in defence, even if he clearly isn’t as powerful.

"But we are counting on Elvis and his power later in the match." There are six changes in the line-up overall, the others seeing Vincent Clerc return on the wing, Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire come into the back row and Damien Traille replace the injured Yann David at centre.

Lievremont has kept faith with the same front five that started against Italy.

Les Bleus need to beat the Welsh by at least 20 points this weekend to retain the title they have won for the past two years.

And that will not be straightforward with the unbeaten hosts having the vast majority of an 80,000 crowd behind them at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

"We have spoken to the players about it," said Lievremont, who played in the same stadium for France in the 1999 World Cup final. "It is a true challenge to play in this hostile stadium."

The match should be entertaining and full of running rugby.Les Bleus have regained their ‘French Flair’ tag under Lievremont, who is adamant his team play their own game at the weekend.

"It is out of the question that we let them have possession of the ball, that isn’t the way we want to play it," he said.

France: A Floch (Clermont-Auvergne); V Clerc, Y Jauzion (both Toulouse), D Traille (Biarritz), J Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne); D Skrela (Stade Francais), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); F Barcella (Auch), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan), L Nallet (Castres, capt), J Thion (Biarritz), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne) Replacements: W Servat, J-B Poux (both Toulouse), A Mela (Albi), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne), D Yachvili (Biarritz), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), C Heymans (Toulouse)