Noves calls on France to cope without Fofana

Editor

France head coach Guy Novès admitted his side will have to press on without injured centre Wesley Fofana during this year's Six Nations.

Fofana was ruled out of the Six Nations and for many months last weekend  after injuring his Achilles playing for Clermont in the Champions Cup.

His partnership at club and international level in midfield with Camille Lopez and Rémi Lamerat had been widely praised but France will now need to turn to a new face at inside centre.

"It is a loss, but all players are important in a team. We have 30 players, so when one goes down so it is never good news," Novès said.

"What's really not good is the length of the injury. It is very serious for him, his club and the French team. But a team cannot stop because of those injuries.

"We have anticipate to them and prepare other players as there will be more injuries as well."

Novès has highlighted France's lack of a killer instinct on attack in recent months and stressed the need once again for les Bleus to capitalise on their number of chances over the next few weeks, starting with the opener against England at Twickenham.

"We have seen the team in the Six Nations and in November in some areas miss the last few metres, and that's what I mean by "killers". I want our players to finish the actions they have started," he explained.

"They know that and they are capable of that, they know what to focus on. We are beyond halfway in this developement, but we need to take our chances.

"We want to feel like as though progress is being made and that we are catching the other teams up. Last year we won some matches we could have lost and vice versa.

"We are not that far off, but now we have to be more efficent. Statistically we are one of the best teams for crossing the advantage line, but we don't score or convert. We have to reverse that ratio so we can win."