On the face of it such measures sound dramatic but this is nothing new with the French.
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Dusautoir was never going to confirm the rumours. “This isn’t really our kind of thing”, Dusautoir said.
Saint-Andre was in defiant mood at a pre-match press conference today.
“We prepare for this game as a team with all the boys, coaches and manager”, Dusautoir said.
New Zealand would flatly deny any revenge mission this weekend, but McCaw admitted returning to Cardiff for another quarter-final, eight years on, against the same opponents, certainly throws up old wounds. “I don’t really understand what everyone’s talking about here”. I just focus on what I have to do tomorrow.
“It’s a goal of theirs that they’ve shown before, that they can rise for a big occasion, and we’re expecting the best of them”.
Still, in a bid to unsettle the All Blacks, Saint-Andre made three changes. We are a team. We are a team and we will continue our work as a team. It’s worth remembering the ’99 team had won successive Grand Slams in the build up to that tournament.
If true, the move has strong echoes of the 2011 World Cup where a struggling and unhappy French team came back from an embarrassing pool match loss to Tonga to reach the final where they scared the daylights out of the All Blacks before succumbing.
However under Saint-Andre, France have finished no higher than fourth in the Six Nations.
“Can you explain to me what French flair is?” he said. It was a good moment.
And four years on he scored a try as France lost 8-7 to hosts New Zealand in the final. “We have a special history together and we are going to write a new chapter”.
“It is always special to play against him”.
“It’s always something special to play New Zealand”, Dusautoir said. “So we’ve got to go back to reality, real life, and then I will have time to think about all of this”.
Thierry Dusautoir has refused to address suggestions he will retire from Test rugby after France’s 62-13 hammering by New Zealand.
“We’re exactly where we want to be, playing a quarter-final at Millennium Stadium”. A battle within a battle if ever there was one.
“McCaw is the best player of his generation and what he did for All Blacks is incredible”, Dusautoir said. “It’s my last chance to play against a master like him”. The experienced Morgan Parra was recalled at scrumhalf and the brawn of Mathieu Bastareaud was replaced by the guile of Alexandre Dumoulin at outside centre.
The other change saw Bernard Le Roux replace Damien Chouly at No. 8. That much you can guarantee.
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Revolt or not, the French will front. This time, though, it might not be enough.
