French focus on tactics, not revenge
Six Nations Grand Slam champions France must focus entirely on their tactics for Saturday’s one-off Test match with World Cup semifinalists Argentina and not revenge, their captain Thierry Dusautoir said.
The French have often in recent years found the Argentinians a handful not least in losing twice to them at the 2007 World Cup and most recently seeing their euphoria at winning their first Grand Slam since 2004 doused with a 41-13 trouncing in Buenos Aires in June.
However, Dusautoir, who turns 29 on Thursday, said whilst the French must not forget the humiliating result in June they had to keep themselves focused against the Pumas.
“Obviously, we will talk again about that defeat,” said Dusautoir, who was recalled after sitting out the victory over Fiji last Saturday.
“There are certain strategical lessons to take out of that match. After the pool loss to the Argentinians in 2007 we took refuge in focusing on avenging that defeat in the third place match and being very aggressive and the game totally passed us by and conceded nearly 40 points [the Pumas won 34-10].
“Thus for this match it is imperative we think first about the rugby, to be ready and prepared on our tactics, and to be crystal clear on what we want to do.”
Dusautoir, known as the ‘Dark Destroyer’ after bursting onto the international scene with a dynamic performance against the All Blacks in the 2007 World Cup quarterfinal, said that a lot of players owed themselves and the coaching staff a better performance than that served up in June.
“I don’t think there was just one explanation for the defeat,” said the Toulouse star, whose number of tackles in the All Blacks quarter-final was more than the total of all his opponents put together.
“Maybe it had been too long a season, an abrogation of duty by the players… I don’t think one can excuse that.
“Everyone felt that it was a collective abrogation of duty, that is the problem.
“I don’t know if we came upon a truly great Argentina team but we really weren’t at our proper level.
“I was pleased to go on the summer tour, but after it I was depressed. We have to show another side to ourselves. We have taken our pasting, and we have absorbed it.
“We have to know how to move on, without forgetting what went before.”
Dusautoir said that the Argentinians – who started their autumn tests with a narrow win over Italy on Saturday – merited as much respect as two-time world champions Australia and Tri-Nations champions New Zealand.
“Everyone is waiting for us to express ourselves more but I think that even a win will be hard,” he said.
“We can’t take the Argentinians lightly, given the limited number of victories we have had against them over the past 10 years.
“They are a team to be respected, as much as the New Zealanders and the Australians.”
AFP
