FRANCE

Lièvremont explains his choices

Wednesday 27th February 2008

Lièvremont: 'We're trying to maintain a certain balance'

France's selectors have once again made significant changes, eight to be exact, to their squad ahead of their Six Nations clash with Italy.

Five new players will join the national set-up for the first time and three others return.

Critics have said that coach Marc Lièvremont is devaluing the Six Nations by using it to experiment with his team, an allegation Lièvremont firmly denies, insisting that Italy have not been underestimated.

"This group is no more experimental than the one that we selected to play Scotland," he told Rugbyrama.

"We're not tarnishing anything, whatever the English press might think.

"Seeing how the English prepared for their match against us, seeing their joy at the end of the match and the difficulties they had, I don't think they had the impression they were playing an experimental team.

"We're thinking about 2011 but also about this tournament. We play all our matches to win. We'll have a competitive team against Italy with experienced players and some new youthful talent."

That said, Lièvremont admits that he is continuing with his policy of "opening up the squad" and giving as many players a chance as possible.

"These are players that we've been following regularly for many weeks, months for some, even if we haven't spoken of them since the beginning of the tournament," he explained.

"We want to see them at the highest level and continue our policy of opening the squad.

"Others also interest us, but we needed to maintain a balance between the positions, between the new and older players. But the door is close to no one."

So how many other players out there might still receive a call-up?

"Many," says the coach. "We're interested in the potential of French rugby. Some play in the Pro D2, others are in the la fédérale but all are capable of playing in the 2011 World Cup.

"Benjamin Kayser is one. We saw him in the age-group national sides, like Guilhem Guirado. Benjamin has a lot of potential, we're very interested in him.

"But we had to make a choice, we couldn't pick them both at the same time. His turn will come."

However, with France still very much in the hunt for the Six Nation title, the XV de France will most likely have a more familiar look about it when they travel to Cardiff for what could very well be the tournament decider.

"There will most likely be changes for the trip to Wales," said Lièvremont.

"Certain players deserved to stay in the squad. They'll be called back for the last match."

The trend seems to be to pick as many young players as possible, but Lièvremont denies that age is the only selection criteria, rather a balance between young and experience is the goal.

"It's difficult to justify our choices one by one," he said.

"It didn't seem coherent for us to pick [a player like] Pierre Mignoni and at the same time as Dimitri Yachvili since both have a lot of experience.

"Mignoni is the same age as Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, that would make for a lot of experienced players in the same position.

"The captain [Lionel Nallet] is 31, so it's not true that being over 30 means you won't be picked.

"But it is true that [age] influenced our choices. Certain players will be 33, 34 or 35 in 2011 and we don't want two-thirds of the team to be that old.

"We're trying to maintain a certain balance in each position with younger players like Julien Tomas and Morgan Parra.

"These choices are also made considering the skills of the players and their leadership."

But is the system sending a mixed message to players who have performed well and are now being dropped?

"On Sunday morning we told everyone that we were happy with their application," said the former Dax coach.

"But we told them very clearly that there would be new changes to the group.

"They should not see it as punishment, even though we can understand their disappointment."

There have been some changes amongst the loose forwards but Louis Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedraogo have kept their places.

"[Picamoles and Ouedraogo] have gained a certain experience since the beginning of the tournament," said Lièvremont.

"We needed to pick players that had similar profiles to Julien Bonnaire and Thierry Dusautoir which is why we picked Imanol Harinordoquy and Ibrahim Diarra."

Commenting on each of the new faces in the squad, Lièvremont explained why each one was considered.

"I went to watch Fabien Barcella in a match between Auch and Biarritz and he really didn't ruin my night," he told Le Site.

"He was glittering in the scrums - it's important that we don't forget about the fundamentals.

"We've followed him since, likes others. We was excellent the last few weekends.

"We know Guillem Guirado better. Especially Emile Ntamack and Didier Retière who were [age-group] world champions with him. He plays regularly for Perpignan. He's a very explosive player, very strong and aggressive.

"Ibrahim Diarra has had a remarkable season. He's a very complete player, capable of carrying the ball and tackling. He's a good fetcher with huge potential.

"Julien Tomas is also one of the generation that won the under-21 World cup. He plays regularly with his mates Picamoles, Ouedraogo and Trinh-Duc at Montpellier.

"Yann David is a very explosive player, a bit like Florian Fritz who is also originally from Bourgoin. We should pay tribute to the training at that club. David has played three matches for the French Under-20 side."