Will Greenwood: Lievremont doesn't know his best team

Six Nations talking point / Will Greenwood / 23 February 2011 / Leave a Comment

Has the French coach got his selection gambles right?

"Clive Woodward proved that changes can be very effective. But you need to maintain a strong spine in your team."

Will knows what it takes to beat France, having done it plenty of times at Twickenham. He also knows that there's a fine art to team changes and believes the French coach is being indecisive rather than bold...

I played in an England team that never lost to Les Bleus outside France. However, I also never managed to win across the Channel and I admit that I'm still irked by that. On the three occasions I played in Paris we always managed to go down by close margins.

Beating them at Twickenham was always sweet. In 2001, I crashed over early in a 48-19 victory with a try that was the result of a system that was near perfect. We had created so much space that I was practically able to walk in untouched. I actually saw the same piece of play being used by New Zealand in the Tri-Nations last year, which shows that the best rugby is timeless.

The game has changed enormously over the last two decades and no team demonstrates that better than France. Fifteen years ago their midfield was populated by slight, darting players who liked to mix up their angles, but now they're just huge. The French have got taller and bigger and all those clichés about Gallic flair have been consigned to history. Eight years ago they used to dismiss Ben Cohen, implying that he was too big to be a winger, lacking in finesse, but Yoann Huget on the right wing is a carbon copy of Cohen. The old French rugby purists must be turning in their graves.

Marc Lievremont has rung the changes for Saturday's match and Martin Johnson is also considering selection dilemmas. Clive Woodward was never afraid of making changes - he changed the side for the 2003 World Cup semi-final and then again for the final - but I don't think Lievremont knows his best team.

Clive proved that changes can be very effective. But you need to maintain a strong spine in your team. Once you have got that you can make alterations around the core and that can make a side more dynamic. So you need to be careful. The key to winning big tournaments is to have a team that can win with changes. Martin Johnson will be aiming to develop that side of England between now and the autumn.

*

To back Will Greenwood's Round three Six Nations Treble click here.

To follow Will on Twitter click here and to visit his website click here.

Will knows what it takes to beat France, having done it plenty of times at Twickenham. He also knows that there's a fine art to team changes and believes the French coach is being indecisive rather than bold......

Five markets, five wagers... Are punters right to rule out a Grand Slam? Will this be the year Italy get off the bottom and can Toby Floor rack up the points? Will Greenwood serves up some intriguing, long term Six...

Betfair website

Six Nations: Lievremont and Dusautoir want Grand Slam

Six Nations Betting / Maxliu / 31 January 2011 / Leave a Comment

These two won't give up their trophy without a fight

"We committed suicide against Australia... But the important thing is to win the Six Nations and I think we will."

France coach and captain believe their team is strong enough to win every match but have the scars of their Aussie nightmare really healed?

France coach Marc Lievremeont gave a typically obfuscatory press conference at the launch of the Six Nations as his team prepare to defend the Grand Slam they won last year.

But Lievremont was frank enough to admit that he has had to rethink his team's approach after their humiliating autumn defeat to Australia.

He said: "Last year was a strange one for France. A Grand Slam in the first part and then a terrible autumn.The past six months have been tough. But we have now regained the confidence and respect of our fans."

It may not be the fans that the French boss needs to keep half and eye on over the coming weeks. He could come under pressure from his employers if the French fail to get off to a good start against Scotland in Paris this Saturday.

"I'm confident we can fulfill our potential in this tournament," he said. "I do feel safe in my job. I feel no pressure. The important thing is to win the Six Nations and I think we will."
Still, that 59-16 defeat against an Australia team that had been trounced by Six Nations rivals England only weeks before clearly scarred Les Bleus.

"We lacked precision in the first half of that match and then we committed suicide in the second half. It can happen but we must make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Lievremont went on to talk up his current team, saying that this is strongest squad he has ever coached. French captain Thierry Dusautoir echoed his comments, saying: "It's not easy to lose the way we did against the Wallabies and it was difficult to recover from. But we are over it now and we know we can win the Grand Slam."

Defiant words from the French but amongst the optimism you sense that the Australian catastrophe may yet affect their displays over the next few weeks. That's certainly been a factor in how the Betfair markets have shaped up, with France [3.45] second favourites to win the tournament behind England [2.96]. You can get [9.0] on a French Grand Slam but punters are confident that Lievremont's men will win their first game on Saturday. They're [1.14] with Scotland [9.2].

Betfair website