France taking Romania seriously
A wary France know they must give top priority to their first World Cup warm-up game against minnows Romania in Lens on Friday.
With the encounter leading into a two-match series against England, coach Bernard Laporte and team manager Jo Maso expect a vast improvement following Les Bleus’ summer defeats to Argentina and New Zealand.
The French have a demanding schedule in the countdown to the World Cup which kicks off in Sydney on October 10.
After taking on the English in Marseille on August 30 and at Twickenham on September 6, Laporte’s men will meet a strong Barbarians outfit in Narbonne on September 19 then head for Cap d‘Agde in the South of France for a 10-day training session before flying to Australia.
Maso sees Romania clash as an ideal opportunity to start fine-tuning for the battles ahead.
Although the Romanians are not well-known, they are extremely physical, have a fine rugby tradition and are capable of causing an upset if taken too lightly.
“It is true that starting these preparation matches against Romania is probably better than with England but we must be careful not to make many mistake,” said fly-half Frederic Michalak.
“We must give all we have for that match, and we are all eager to get on the pitch.
“We are going to put our offensive game into place before (playing) England.
“Even if the Romanians are weaker than us, the pressure is definitely there with the coaches making clear to us that we will have to display an excellent match.
“We know that the Romanians are very strong physically and we should take them very seriously.”
Captain Fabien Galthie added: “It is important that we play efficiently.
“These matches are an official representation of our training – we will have to be coherent with ourselves and show that we are a good team.”
The 22-man squad Laporte announced on Thursday to face the Romanians contains no surprises.
Prop Jean-Jacques Crenca, lock Fabien Pelous plus flankers Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen have been restored to the squad after missing the summer tour of the Southern hemisphere, while hooker Raphael Ibanez and lock Olivier Brouzet will be on the substitute’.
“We have chosen the best team of the moment,” said Laporte.
“We are in an intensive preparation period and we need to rediscover our routines on the pitch as well as get rid of the weaknesses which we showed during the summer tours of Argentina and New Zealand.
“We have four matches to raise our game ahead of the World Cup.”
