Star centre Thomas Castaignede, overlooked by France, and former coach Pierre Berbizier fear the French have lost the plot.
Castaignede and Berbizier say England confirmed themselves as World Cup favourites in their two warm-up matches against France — they lost by a point when they played their B side against a full-strength French team in Marseille and crushed the French by 31 points when the positions were reversed at Twickenham.
”After Saturday’s defeat les Bleus will need all the help they can get, be it paranormal, spiritual, extraterrestrial or celestial,” Castaignede writes in The Guardian newspaper.
”After Saturday night, it’s hard to believe that England will not be world champions, especially if you happen to be English, and particularly if they end up with a semi-final against France.
”France will be left in the opposite state of mind. They were simply blown away. The forwards never competed, the 9-10 axis stuttered.
A lot of ball was given away by kicking, and the gap in the game plan was revealed: defence, pressure and kicking for position can only be effective if the defence is sound, but France missed too many tackles.
”They gave the ball up too readily, and if you present the ball to this England they know what to do with it. It’s not like playing Scotland or Wales.
”For France, this is a worrying way to end the build-up. They go to the World Cup ruminating on that 31-point defeat.
The players will have massive doubts, a lot of questions will be asked, training will be harder. The problem is there are no more preparation matches. They can only work on trying to regain a positive frame of mind.”
Berbizier tells l’Equipe sports daily that current coach Bernard Laporte has chopped and changed the side too often to build any consistency.
”The half-back pairing has been changed 17 times in 42 matches. Stability is weakened,” he says. He says missed tackles, poor defending and lack of commitment exposed the French, who appear to have lost their traditional flair.
”The multiphased French moves were stereotyped. The English were altogether more flexible,” he said. Laporte agreed the French had a lot of work to do, but he had not given up hope.
”Like any team, England can be beaten in a one-off Test, but as I’m sure they will maintain this level, we must progress,” he told l’Equipe.
England and France are next scheduled to meet in the World Cup semifinals in Sydney on November 16, but Laporte refused to look that far ahead.
”All I’m thinking of at the moment is our opening pool match against Fiji,” he said. ”We’ll have our strongest side. It’s vital we start well.” — Sapa-AFP