France RLWC squad

[Misanthrope]

How do people really rate France's chances? Given the Dragons had a decent season, you'd imagine they'd have a few players in good form.

 

[Evil Homer]

How do people really rate France's chances? Given the Dragons had a decent season, you'd imagine they'd have a few players in good form.

It's hard to tell really since they haven't played under a legit coach for as long as I can remember. They could put up a great showing, or equally they could completely fold and lose every game. On paper this is their strongest side in decades, but whether or not they will perform is a different story.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

France could come out and win a few games and give NZ a good run, or they could end up playing like they did in the 08 cup which would be disappointing. That's the thing with them though, you never know which team is going to turn up, the one that lets in 50+ or the one that pushes you for 70 mins and then runs out of puff.

The National team has to start improving soon you'd think, they've had a fair while to get up to speed in the SL with the Dragons, yet the National team is still finding its feet again.

I'm hoping Escaré has a good tournament, what I have seen so far impresses me, I just hope he isn't spotted by that other mob with their fat wallets.

 

[adamkungl]

08 they were awful. They really should be aiming for a 4th place finish. Would be good if they could catch NZ on an off day

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

08 they were awful. They really should be aiming for a 4th place finish. Would be good if they could catch NZ on an off day

Agree, they were the most disappointing team in the last world cup by a long distance.

Also agree about the Kiwi game, they nearly knocked them off over there in 05 I think.

 

[Evil Homer]

Agree, they were the most disappointing team in the last world cup by a long distance.

Also agree about the Kiwi game, they nearly knocked them off over there in 05 I think.

They had a pretty good showing against England in Avignon a couple of years ago too, I think it finished something like 32-18 but all England's points were scored in 7-8 minute spells and France were well in touch for the rest of the match.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

They had a pretty good showing against England in Avignon a couple of years ago too, I think it finished something like 32-18 but all England's points were scored in 7-8 minute spells and France were well in touch for the rest of the match.

Yeah they seem to have that bad habit, that's why I'd love a great coach like WB to get hold of them for a while.

 

[adamkungl]

Now that Robbo isn't coaching Catalan it would be interesting to see if he'll give the national job a go. Might have what it takes to get some results

 

[Bronco Rob]

I think the French should account for themselves reasonably well, they are playing at home and it's a real chance of gaining some support by playing well. As stated they have an improved side and the bulk of players have been playing in the ESL now for the last few years.

 

[marv]

Kinda agree here its one of their best squads I can remember. It's also a last chance for the likes of Bosc, Fakir, Raguin and Greensheilds they are all 30 or over and won't get another WC on home soil. They have to do well IMO.

It will be tough though, they will have to be on their best against PNG and they won't be cold after games against PM XIII and Scotland.

They have no chance of turning NZ over, not on a bad day, not ever.

And finally the Samoa game could be crucial and its a good clash of two of the poorest performers from the last WC

 

[Foreign Legion]

Young Catalan loose forward Benjamin Garcia has been drafted into the France squad by head coach Richard Agar.
Garcia, 20, has made two appearances since his move to the Dragons from Brisbane Broncos under-20's in June, as he came off the interchange bench against Leeds and Warrington in the last two games of the regular season.
Agar has been forced into changing his squad after Mathias Pala and Clément Soubeyras both withdrew with injury, and the highly-rated garcia has been given the nod.
Full France squad:
Jean-Philippe Baile, William Barthau, Andrew Bentley, Kane Bentley, Thomas Bosc, Rémi Casty, Vincent Duport, Olivier Elima, Morgan Escare, Théo Fages, Jamal Fakir, Benjamin Garcia, Tony Gigot, Clint Greenshields, Younes Khattabi, Kévin Larroyer, Antoni Maria, Grégory Mounis, Eloi Pelissier, Sébastien Ragium, Mickael Simon, Cyril Stacul, Frédéric Vaccari.

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_13480-garcia-called-into-france-squad.html

 

[deal.with.it]

France have been training together as a squad for a couple weeks.
No excuses

 

[newman]

For some reason I'm getting behind the french. Get in!

 

[Pig Champion]

I'm hoping the French surprise us. I taped (yes VHS tapes) most of the games back in 2000. Of the french games only missed the PNG one but the atmosphere at the games in france was brilliant.

Here's hoping they improve dramatically from 2008.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

I'm hoping the French surprise us. I taped (yes VHS tapes) most of the games back in 2000. Of the french games only missed the PNG one but the atmosphere at the games in france was brilliant.

Here's hoping they improve dramatically from 2008.

The French home games always have a "banda", a little brass band, that plays tunes in the stand. I suspect the federation hires them.

France were rubbish in 2008. They'd damn well better improve, I'm hoping for a serious contest in Avignon but it's going to be very tough. With five years of Les Catalans under the belt they should be a lot better, but they have always struggled to find a good coach, and a french one at that, to get them playing as a team unit. Probably would have been ideal if they got Trent Robinson back over.

 

[Hindyscrack]

France were rubbish in 2008. They'd damn well better improve, I'm hoping for a serious contest in Avignon but it's going to be very tough. With five years of Les Catalans under the belt they should be a lot better, but they have always struggled to find a good coach, and a french one at that, to get them playing as a team unit. Probably would have been ideal if they got Trent Robinson back over.

Having Robbo or Laurent Frayssinous would have been ideal.

As I am following the Kangaroos I am a bit gutted I cannot get over for a game in France. Would have loved to have seen a QF been played there.

 

[newman]

The French home games always have a "banda", a little brass band, that plays tunes in the stand. I suspect the federation hires them.

France were rubbish in 2008. They'd damn well better improve, I'm hoping for a serious contest in Avignon but it's going to be very tough. With five years of Les Catalans under the belt they should be a lot better, but they have always struggled to find a good coach, and a french one at that, to get them playing as a team unit. Probably would have been ideal if they got Trent Robinson back over.

If I remember correctly the French were ravaged by injury in 2008 and were struggling to field a side.

Isn't their coach the bloke who coaches Wakefield? He has had some limited success in getting results out of an average squad, but will the French players respond to him (I assume he is English).

The French have 3 games; PNG, NZ and Samoa. You would think that they need to win 2 out of 3 games to progress. We can safely say they won't beat NZ.


With the bulk of the French team playing together week in, week out and getting the advantage of playing at home (or at least SL venues they are familiar with) they should account for PNG quite easily. But we know that the Kumuls are plucky and spirited and there are no sure things.

Samoa looks to be a different story. They are full of NRL talent, but I am led to believe there are a lot of internal rumblings about selections and pressure from all sides. Samoa could easily implode and they showed this with a really average performance against Tonga at Penrith earlier this year. Then again; France could implode. I reckon this is the "group of death".

 

[newman]

Frances recent results. They are rated as the 4th best team in International RL with 233 ranking points slightly above Wales and PNG and miles behind the top 3.

In their last 8 matches going back to 2010 they have won 5 and lost 3. Beating Wales, Ireland and Scotland and getting rolled by only Wales (once) and England. Their worst loss was 60-6 against the Poms in Leigh in 2010. They managed to back that up with a better performance in Avignon in 2011 but still got rolled 32-18. Their best win was a 58-24 drubbing of Ireland in 2010.

 

[Springs]

France were terrible in 2008 but were quite good in 2009 where only fitness let them down.

Leading England 12-4 at halftime, just trailing the Kiwis 16-12 after 50 minutes and only 8-0 down against Australia at halftime. If they repeat those performances they should be more than competitive against PNG and Samoa.