INTERVIEW MARC LIEVREMONT:FRANCE COACH Marc Lievremont's voice barely rises above a whisper but his determination to get tough on the players he believes still do not understand the demands of life at the top of rugby is loud and clear.
Lievremont’s team swept all before them in claiming this year’s Six Nations championship – but then a 42-17 defeat to South Africa and 41-13 loss to Argentina, made a nonsense of growing thoughts of a serious challenge by Les Bleus for next year’s World Cup.
The young coach – he will turn 42 tomorrow – is still stung by those results and will not publicly name the men he feels are to blame, but in a revealing interview he warned those whose commitment dips below 100 per cent will not be bound for New Zealand for the finals next September.
Without naming names, Lievremont said there were some players who did not “give satisfaction” and others who “don’t seem to be aware of the demands of international rugby on their daily life”.
“That’s why we’ll still have to experiment in November and send a message to some guys who are wide of the mark in their performances and individual preparation,” said Lievremont.
That message seems likely to result in changes for the games against Fiji in Nantes (November 13th), Argentina in Montpellier (November 20th) and Australia in Paris (November 27th).
The 30-man squad could then provide some surprises and Lievremont conceded he was not in a position to start fielding and testing his probable World Cup team.
In the pack that played a major part in the Six Nations Grand Slam campaign, the main change could be the return of Sebastian Chabal from secondrow to back row, his original position at club level, he hinted.
The coach said he was more concerned about the backline, which has been the spark of French flair, with outhalf the main question.
“For the time being (scrumhalf) Morgan Parra is our maestro,” Lievremont said.
“At outhalf we have some players who are making progress like Francois Trinh-Duc, even if he still has ups and downs in difficult conditions as in June.
“David Skrela had some very good games with Toulouse. (Centre) Damien Traille would like to reposition himself at outhalf and that’s interesting. Young Jonathan Wisniewski is developing well.”
Lievremont, however, was not prepared to confirm whether the 25-year-old Racing-Metro number 10 would be called up for the first time.
“You will have to wait and see,” he answered.
“Against Fiji and Argentina I would like to involve as many players of the squad as possible, perhaps even all of them and then take stock for the Australia game.”
The coach is clearly itching to get back to work after the disappointments against South Africa and Argentina.
“The four months between the June tour and the November tour are the worst period for a national coach so I’m happy to be here,” said Lievremont at France’s headquarters in Marcoussis, on the edge of a forest south of Paris.
“This time it was particularly frustrating,” he added without raising his soft voice in a corner of the bar modelled on an English club lounge with trophies and paintings on the walls.
“After our Grand Slam we were hoping to keep our momentum but we fell from a real feat to nearly nothing.
“It was hard to take and since then I have just been an observer.
“Now the priority will be to bounce back, to mobilise players again, to make them aware again of our team project, to start from scratch once again.”
From scratch?
“No, of course not, we have made progress,” clarified Lievremont who was appointed after the 2007 World Cup.
“But there still are a lot of uncertainties.
“If you take the squad, we have a core of 20 to 24 players, maybe 25, who will probably go to the World Cup but we would like to have 40 or 45 to face unavoidable setbacks like injuries or loss of form.”
