François Trinh-Duc admitted he was desperate to pull the number 10 jersey back on for France when they go up against unbeaten England in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Montpellier playmaker was the preferred fly-half under the reign of previous coach Marc Lièvremont, linking up with Morgan Parra in a half-back partnership that took France into the World Cup final in New Zealand.
But under new handler Philippe Saint-André he has seen his play-time for his country limited to just 68 minutes in five matches as preference has been givem to Toulon's Frédéric Michalak.
Yet with two morale-sapping defeats to date against Italy and Wales in this year's tournament, the time could be ripe for Saint-André to revert to Trinh-Duc, who has remained in the French squad.
The player himself has no doubts that he would be ready to take on the English who are now eyeing the prospect of a first Six Nations Grand Slam since the World Cup winning year of 2003.
"I really do want to play in this match after the November Tests and a tough start to the tournament with little play-time for myself," he said.
"I want to get that number 10 shirt on my back."
Trinh-Duc will find out on Thursday whether he is back in favour for a place in the starting line-up and he says he is fully aware of what will be at stake.
"A win over the English would rescue our tournament. We need to battle back from the bad start we have made."
Comments
ironmanI441 says...
I know this is a what if type scenario, but can you imagine how lethal france would be with a proper field general at 10, taking his points, firing hard flat passes, kicking out of hand with accuracy. They don't need any more flair at 10, they need a reliable, calculating 10.
Basically imagine if Farrell was French.
Posted 15:25 21st February 2013
Bash says...
And he should start. I find it very hard to understand why he isn't given a chance when he has been one of the best in the Heineken cup
Posted 08:49 21st February 2013