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France want Wallabies` respect

Wednesday 19th November 2008

Head held high:Louis Picamoles

France will be out to win back some respect from the Wallabies at the Stade de France on Saturday after suffering heavy defeats Down Under last June.

Les Bleus were trounced 40-10 and 34-13 in Sydney and Brisbane when they arrived in Australia without most of their top players due to clashes with the Top 14 play-offs.

"Even before we left, the Australians said we were going to the slaughterhouse," number eight Louis Picamoles told reporters on Wednesday.

"During and after the tour, they complained that France had sent a B team and that we were not good players,"

"Now, we want to take our revenge. We want to punish them for what they said. When you don the blue jersey, you want to be respected. We are a France team and we require respect."

The fateful tour did not produce the results France would have wanted, but gave a handful of players a chance to win the place in Marc Li�vremont's first-choice squad.

One of those players, hooker Benjamin Kayser said the scorelines did not reflect the true nature of those games.

"They were a better team but we fought for our lives and we deserved to leave with our heads held high," he said.