France keeping feet on the ground
France remain vigilant ahead of Saturday's clash with Argentina despite victories over Fiji and Australia, captain Thierry Dusautoir said on Friday.
Philippe Saint-Andre's team have shown signs of coming together as an effective unit this month, despite a difficult three years at the helm for the former international wing.
He boasts a record of just 13 wins in 31 matches and presided over a last place finish in the 2013 Six Nations, as well as Tour whitewashes inflicted by New Zealand and Australia over the last two summers.
But a 40-15 success over Fiji was followed by a gutsy 29-26 defeat of the Wallabies last weekend, generating a bit of hope amongst French fans with the World Cup just 10 months away.
But the team are not getting carried away.
"We've only won two matches, we're not getting over-excited," said Toulouse flank Dusautoir.
"We're also reaping the hard work done over the last few months.
"But winning (on Saturday) would give us an important injection of oxygen.
"And it would set us up well to tackle the 2015 Six Nations, which we haven't won yet (under Saint-Andre)."
In fact, France's Six Nations record under the former Sale and Toulon coach is dire.
They have finished fourth twice and were rock bottom in 2013, winning only six of their 15 matches in the competition during that period – and five of those were against either Scotland or Italy.
Victories over top nations have been rare under Saint-Andre, with one success against England (26-24) in the Six Nations this year and home wins over Australia in 2012 (33-6) and last week.
But they've lost three out of three against Wales, four out of four against New Zealand, once to South Africa, twice to England and all three Tests in Australia in June.
It means they cannot afford to allow themselves to rest easy, according to Saint-Andre himself.
"We cannot put in 10 percent less in terms of effort, combat or enthusiasm," he said.
Argentina will also present a different type of challenge to the last two weeks, where France were dominant in the scrum.
The Pumas are well-known for excelling in that area, although Saint-Andre insists there is more to their game than just brawn, saying "they've progressed a lot".
Perhaps mindful of the Argentine scrum, though, Saint-Andre has made several changes in the pack, bringing in front row forwards Xavier Chiocci and Benjamin Kayser, as well as giant lock Sebastien Vahaamahina.
Whatever happens, this will be a test to see if France have themselves taken some steps forward this autumn, or whether the Australia victory will prove just another false dawn.
AFP
