France may be more pragmatic than the 2008 side but won't abandon their va va voom, their coach Marc Lievremont tells The Scotsman's Ian Borthwick.
"The main problem for Lievremont, however, is that so much depends on the opening match of the Championship. To play to their potential, to be able to express themselves with the fluidity and free-spirit they showed in Edinburgh two years ago, the French need above all to feel confident in what they are doing. It is perhaps too easy to categorise the French as "confidence players". But confidence and consistency are the two factors in the Six Nations that determine whether France can once again be the dominant force in European rugby, or whether they will continue to suffer the kind of ignominious defeat they witnessed at Twickenham last year, when they collapsed to a 34-10 loss, after trailing 29-0 at half-time.
"For us, the opening game is the key," he insists. "We French need to get a good win under our belt." Insisting that it is perhaps not just a French speciality, he points to the last two Six Nations championships, where both Wales and Ireland built their success on the first day of the competition. "Two years ago, Wales started by pulling off a win at Twickenham, then going on to greater success. And last year, it was the same for Ireland. They only just beat us in the opening game in Dublin, but they scored three tries that day, and that set them up for the rest of the championship."
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