"Nobody's thinking about England, nobody's thinking about the grand slam," said the France coach, Marc Lièvremont, before Sunday's match against Italy in Paris – suggesting quite the opposite. France can almost touch a third Six Nations grand slam and a fifth championship since Italy joined the club in 2000.
"We are not taking anything for granted," said Lièvremont. "We know the match against Italy is a potential trap." History, however, shows Italy to have conceded an average of 39 points in 10 Six Nations meetings with the French.
At Marcoussis, French rugby's splendid base just south of Paris, great emphasis has been placed on using this Six Nations as a dummy run for the next World Cup. After beating Wales a fortnight ago to lay the bogey of never having won three matches on the trot, Lièvremont's men seem set for a "final" against the only northern hemisphere country so far to have lifted the Webb Ellis Cup.
That, however, is unlikely to stop the coach's search for talent, which tomorrow sees a first start for the wing Marc Andreu. Lièvremont is not short of wings but Andreu, a lightweight 11st and 5ft 5in, replaces Julien Malzieu after playing four minutes in Cardiff. The other change sees the Perpignan centre David Marty replace Mathieu Bastareaud, who was kept relatively quiet by the Welsh. Bastareaud has been nursing a sore calf while France have held an inquest into how they ran up a 20-point lead at half-time against Wales, only to be hauled back to 26-20.
Even after overseeing a victory over Scotland, Nick Mallett, Italy's coach, says he will be happy if his unchanged side keep the margin to 15 points. The bookies say 16-1 against an Italy win, and 7-2 against England next weekend.
France Poitrenaud; Andreu, Marty, Jauzion, Palisson; Trinh-Duc, Parra; Domingo, Servat, Mas, Nallet, Pierre, Dusautoir (capt), Bonnaire, Harinordoquy. Replacements Szarzewski, Poux, Chabal, Lapandry, Yachvili, Bastareaud, Malzieu.
Italy McLean; Masi, Canale, Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Gower, Tebaldi; Perugini, Ghiraldini (capt), Castrogiovanni, Geldenhuys, Bortolami, Sole, Mauro Bergamasco, Zanni. Replacements Ongaro, Agüero, Del Fava, Derbyshire, Canavosio, Bocchino, Robertson.
