Six Nations Preview - France v Scotland

I was at a karaoke pub a few months back, and I have a not-so-secret opinion of myself as being a bit of a singer in the Frank Sinatra/Tom Jones mould, especially after a few pints when I am quite honestly superb.  Or so I assume.  I’d decided to pick an emotional classic (Enrique Inglesias, Hero) to appease the hoards of adoring female fans that I was sure would be packing the venue later when word got out that I’d be on the mike, when I heard the voice of an angel rising above the din of the pub.  A young lady was singing Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and, one by one, every patron in the establishment fell silent, just to listen to her phenomenal voice washing over them like musical beer.  She finished, there was cheering, whistling, applauding – it was fantastic.  And then I got called up next.  How the hell are you meant to follow that?

I should imagine this might be the feeling shared to some extent by the French and Scots on Saturday night.  They will, after all, be kicking off about 30 minutes after the Championship has been decided, which does tend to give the fixture a dead-rubber sort of feel to it, not to mention the difficulty they will have in matching the drama and intensity that will take place due to the sheer occasion at the Millennium Stadium.  No, in Cardiff’s shadow is not a great place to be, but I hope they do what I did and have a bloody good belt at it anyway.

The French have been unbelievably poor this tournament, and the pre-Championship expectations that had Les Bleus down as potential Grand Slam winners now seem both a long time ago and laughable.  Against Ireland, however, there was an improvement but it wasn’t enough to get the win or, in all likelihood, save Philippe Saint Andre’s job.  What we did see, though, in the second half, was a French team playing to it’s strengths in poor conditions.  It’s a myth that French teams are all wishy-washy and like to float the ball about – over the decades they have produced some of the toughest competitors international rugby has ever seen – and when Picamoles, Dusautoir and Maestri started charging into the Irish defence round the fringes, the home side began to struggle to cope with their power.  If they can take these positives and, relying on decent weather, use the front foot ball to get the ball into the hands of Medard, Bastareaud and Fofana, then we should see the best of this infuriatingly underperforming French side.

The Scots have charged through the tournament on an undercurrent of optimism, in contrast.  Despite being hammered by England away, they played some good stuff and followed a sharp win over Italy with a gritty victory over Ireland, before succumbing to Wales in one of the most boring matches I can recall in recent years.  This Scottish side, in my opinion, has set itself a limit on its potential though, simply because they never earn more than 40% possession due to Scott Johnson’s tactic of avoiding throwing players into the breakdown.  Yes, it keeps your defensive lineout but it gives the opposition a free reign on quick ball.  You can be as strong defensively as you like – and the Scottish have been good – but you can’t expect to pose a serious threat yourself with those stats behind you.  I’d like to see the sizeable Scottish pack throwing a few more bodies in to disrupt and slow French possession, forcing the hosts to kick to the dangerous back 3 of Maitland, Visser and Hogg.  It would be great to finally see them in space.

And so, despite falling like an unwanted encore, let’s hope that these 2 sides smash out one last great tune for the 2013 Six Nations.

 

France Team News

Flanker Antoine Claassen and lock Sebastien Vahaamahina will make their first Test starts. Claassen comes in for Yannick Nyanga who drops to the bench while Vahaamahina gets the nod ahead of Christophe Samson who is also named among the replacements. Coach Philippe Saint-Andre has also opted to restore Bastareaud to his midfield with Florian Fritz making way due to a foot infection although he is bracketed on the bench alongside Gael Fickou.

Starting Line up: Yoann Huget; Vincent Clerc, Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fofana, Maxime Médard; Frederic Michalak, Morgan Parra; Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Nicolas Mas, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Yoann Maestri, Antoine Claassen, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Louis Picamoles

Subs: Guilhem Guirado, Vincent Debaty, Luc Ducalcon, Christophe Samson, Yannick Nyanga, Maxime Machenaud, Francois Trinh-Duc, Gael Fickou.

Key Player

Frederic Michalak.  Yes, he has been about as effective as a chocolate teapot thus far this Championship, but for some unknown reason he has been given the nod by his moronic master, Saint Andre, to have one last crack at putting in a semi-decent performance.  But, like it or not, he is starting at fly half and in this game he is likely to be handed far more ball than he’s used to given that the Scots haven’t been contesting the breakdown.  This means firstly he should get plenty of chances to show off his visionary talents, but secondly that there will also  be a pretty dense wall of Scottish defenders ahead of him who aren’t tied up in rucks.  He will need to be far sharper than he has been this tournament if he is to get Les Bleus purring.

Scotland Team News

Scotland make two changes with Grant Gilchrist handed his Test debut with rival lock Richie Gray facing six to eight weeks out with a leg injury suffered against Wales. Alasdair Strokosch, who was injured in their tournament opener against England, re-takes his spot in the back-row in place of Rob Harley.

Starting Line up: Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Sean Lamont, Matt Scott, Tim Visser, Duncan Weir, Greig Laidlaw; Ryan Grant, Ross Ford, Euan Murray, Grant Gilchrist, Jim Hamilton, Alasdair Strokosch, Kelly Brown (captain), Johnnie Beattie

Subs: Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Geoff Cross, Alasdair Kellock, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos, Ruaridh Jackson, Max Evans

Key Player

Greig Laidlaw.  The scrum half has been a reliable source of points for Scotland and there is something unnervingly Chris Paterson-esque about him in that he is deadly accurate but with limited range.  Laidlaw will need to be at his sharp shooting best to make sure the Scots can pick up points from the few opportunities they are likely to get, and force self doubt to feed into the minds of their hosts.

Key Battle

Thierry Dusautoir v Kelly Brown.  The French stand-in captain has been in quiet form this tournament, and it seems to be symptomatic of Les Bleus in that a man with bags of talent has shown no intensity, flair or leadership.  That improved markedly against Ireland, when he helped his pack claw their way back into the game in the second half, but we all know he has much more to give.  Kelly Brown, meanwhile, has been the opposite – phenomenal over the ball, an inspiration to his team and a barrel of energy, although ironically it was last week as well that brought about a change in form as he was outplayed by Warburton.  Brown’s principal job will be to help Scotland stop the French from getting any clean or fast ball, and getting his hands on it as much as possible in the rucks, whilst Dusautoir should be content to know that his side will likely have the lion’s share of possession given the Scottish obsession with keeping players out of the rucks, so we will need to see his carrying game through the middle and round the fringes to keep the visitors backpeddling.

Head to Head

·         France have failed to win in their last 7 Six Nations games

·         Scotland last won in Paris in the 5/6 Nations in 1999.

·         France have won 13 out of the last 14 clashes between the two sides

Prediction

I have my doubts about how well this Scottish side can travel, and I stubbornly cling to my belief that this French side just has too much brilliance in it to not win games like this, no matter what their plonker of a coach does.  In Paris, if they get an early score, expect the French to win well and have us all thinking -  where was this for the last month?!  France by 15.