Elissalde not worried over Welsh challenge

Mar 15 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

FRANCE star Jean-Baptiste Elissalde last night presented Wales with their team talk before today’s shoot-out for the Six Nations title by launching an astonishing attack on Warren Gatland’s charges.

“The Welsh are still the Welsh,” said tactical genius Elissalde, who is rated by many as the best scrum-half general in the world.

Wales have never beaten France in a Six Nations match at the Millennium Stadium and the Toulouse orchestrator seized upon their remarkable record.

“We haven’t lost over there for ages. And in the preparation match for the World Cup, they conceded 30-odd points to us,” he rapped.

“Their players haven’t changed, just the staff. Their focus is more channelled, but, looking at the level of their rugby and ours, there isn’t normally a comparison.

“We mustn’t let ourselves get submerged by the wave of red that is going to crash into us at the start of the match, especially as there is no reason to be worried.

“This isn’t the All Blacks or the Australians we are talking about here.

“We mustn’t go there feeling we are going to be the victims, rather the favourites.”

France won in a canter 34-7 in the Welsh capital last August and have come out on top in 13 of their last 16 away matches against Wales, losing just once in a European championship match to the men in red during that time.

Gatland wouldn’t be drawn on Elissalde’s outlandish confidence and verbal volley, last night responding, “We will have to wait until tomorrow.”

But, privately, he must be delighted the tiny scrum-half has done him a favour by giving Wales extra motivation and removing any complacency that might have existed in his camp following the four wins which have put them on the brink of the Six Nations title and the Grand Slam.

A bullish Elissalde, below, sees no reason why France, who are chasing a third European crown in a row, should be afraid.

He maintained all the pressure is on Wales and predicted they could implode – as France did in pressure-cooker atmospheres in Paris during the World Cup against Argentina (twice) and England.

“We saw in the World Cup in France that we caved in with all the emotion and you can freeze in your own backyard,” Elissalde warned Wales.

“I hope that it will be the same with the Welsh. They are playing for the Grand Slam in front of their own public – that doesn’t happen to them very often.

“It can be a source of extreme motivation, but it can also affect them as well.”