Is Lievremont Losing the Plot?

The fall-out from the France loss in Italy has begun.

The French public are in uproar, and the repercussions of France's first ever loss to Italy have begun. Lièvremont has dropped 6 players, Sylvain Marconnet, Jerome Thion, Sebastien Chabal, Yannick Jauzion, Clement Poitrenaud and Aurelien Rougerie, for their final match at home to Wales. His reasoning? "They betrayed us, they have betrayed me and they have betrayed the French national team shirt." Harsh words from the tinker man who surely must be coming to the end of his run as French national coach.

Lawes

Being one of only 4 men to have won Grand Slams as player and coach, Lièvremont's position as one of the greats of the tournament is already assured. However, his bizarre selections and the recent outburst against his team show he is clearly a man feeling the pressure. What difference would Harinordoquy's athleticism, line-out skills and support play would have made if he had been on from the start in Italy? We'll never know, but to leave out one of your nations finest ever players was surely naive.

In a tournament that is only 5 games long, the justification to rest a player seems bizarre. The 'warm up' games prior to the World Cup are surely the time for experimentation. And certainly not to replace him with Chabal, a player who was noticeably off form against England and whose powers have been on the wane for several years now. Time to hang up his boot for the International team whilst he is still remembered fondly, before he becomes a parody of himself (how much does he get paid for Chabal bears?)

Lièvremont has arguably the greatest depth of resources at his disposal, and appears determined to use them all. He has used 90 players now since he took charge. His constant tweaking this year, including the controversial decision to rest key players for last week's match, is in contrast to his actions last year where he finally found a balanced team after his first few years of chopping and changing. Parra has spoken out about the difficulty when you don't know if you're in the team or not. The French players seem to have an idea who they think the team should be but Lièvremont seems unsure

Contrast this with Martin Johnson, whose changes this year have been purely enforced through injury. He knows his best team and will play them when he can. Last year he was criticised for being too late to blood the likes of Youngs, Lawes & Foden. However, it is hard to argue that consistency in selection reaps its rewards with England almost guaranteed a first 6 nations crown since 2003. When the All Blacks had 2 teams worth of world class players in the internationals running up to the 2007 World Cup, the lack of settled first 15 was in part responsible for their under performance come the finals.

So all change for France this weekend. By kick off, Wales will know what the result was in Ireland and if they can still win the tournament, or what they need to ensure second place. With French pride in need of restoration, it should be a great climax to a memorable 6 nations.

Is Lievremont Losing the Plot?

Lawes