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It was a confident Philippe Saint-Andre who named his Six Nations squad, his first since replacing Mark Lievremont as coach of the French side. Saint-Andre, under whose stewardship Gloucester became one of the best teams in England, is a popular choice with French players and fans.
Many suggest that he should have been offered the job ahead of Lievremont back in 2007. Nonetheless, and despite the controversies surrounding the Lievremont tenure, France were good enough to make the Rugby World Cup final and came very close to denying the All Blacks victory.
With that in mind, Saint-Andre already knows that he has a strong platform to work from, and will be expecting to win the Six Nations at the first time of asking.
Saint-Andre has called up a number of players discarded by Lievremont and has extended first-time call ups to the highly rated Clermont centre Wesley Fofana, and the huge Toulouse lock Yoann Maestri. So impressive has Fofana been in both Europe and domestically that he is likely to start the first match alongside team mate Aurelien Rougerie in the centre.
Long-standing lock forward Lionel Nallet had originally been omitted by Saint-Andre, but injury to Romain Millo-Chiuski of Toulouse has meant an immediate reprieve for the 35 year old. Nallet, who plays for Racing Metro, will be hoping to win a 71st cap, but may have to begin the opener against Italy on February 4th on the bench.
Those returning to international duty include fly half Lionel Beauxis of Stade Francais, who has not been involved for three years, Clermont prop Vincent Debaty, who will be hoping to add to the one cap he won in 2006, and Yannick Nyanga, whose outstanding form in the back row for Toulouse this season has attracted plenty of positive media attention. There is also a place for Nyanga’s team mate Yann David, a strong running centre who was last capped in 2009.
Clement Poitrenaud, also of Toulouse, after being surprisingly left out of France’s Rugby World Cup squad, has also been recalled by Saint Andre, as has winger Julien Malzieu. But there was no room for Florian Fitz despite his great form at club level this season.
France open their Six Nations campaign with a home game against Italy, who amazed the rugby world by defeating Les Bleus in Rome in last year’s competition. The match will go down as one of the most controversial ever witnessed, due to the French players making their ill-feeling towards Lievremont very definitely known.
A line of course has been drawn under that match, and the French now have the perfect opportunity to put the record straight. It is a game that they should win by a landslide and set themselves up for a very serious bid of regaining the Six Nations trophy which they last won in 2010.
After hosting Italy, the French will then face Ireland at home, followed by a visit to Murrayfield before taking on England in Paris. They round off their campaign with a visit to the Millennium Stadium to face Wales. With three games at home the French are well poised to win the tournament this year, which is why they are the general 7/4 favourites to do so.
France’s 2012 Six Nations Fixtures
4th February – France v Italy
11th February – France v Ireland
26th February – Scotland v France
11th March – France v Scotland
17th March – Wales v France
French Squad
Backs: Morgan Parra (Clermont), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Lionel Beauxis (Toulouse), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont), Yann David (Toulouse), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Maxime Médard (Toulouse), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Toulon), Julien Malzieu (Clermont), Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse)
Forwards: Vincent Debaty (Clermont), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Luc Ducalcon (Castres) Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), William Servat (Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Pascal Papé (Stade Français), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse/Captain), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
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