Guirado admits 'greedy' France desperate for win
France have lost their last three competitive matches by a relatively meagre combined 10 points, including last week's agonising 16-19 reverse at Twickenham in their Six Nations opener against England.
But now hooker Guirado says his team are fed up with being nearly men and said he understands head coach Guy Noves's assertion that the result on Sunday means everything.
"It's completely normal. When you play for France there is always pressure. We want to give ourselves the means to challenge," said the Toulon player.
"I've told the players that we're doing amazing things, that certain other teams aren't managing to do, but we absolutely have to get back to winning ways."
France's last three matches have been against the top three sides in the world: New Zealand, England and Australia. France have had the chances to win all three but each time they lost narrowly.
"We have to win. We've done some good things against the three best teams in the world, but we haven't shown we can win," admitted Guirado.
He said he's spoken to his fellow players about cutting out the mistakes that have prevented them from turning good performances into victories.
"I told them after the match, each player made two or three mistakes in this match against England. These mistakes prevented us from playing with continuity and denied us two or three extra scoring chances."
And in a brutally honest assessment of France's deficiencies, Guirado admitted the players may be cracking under the pressure of game-time situations.
"We always manage to get into the end zone in training. But fine, it's always easier in training. We build up our play to score, but we get very nervous at the moment of finishing it off.
"The closer we get to the line, the more we want it. By always wanting it too much there's always this little sin of greed."
Agence France-Presse
