Clerc looking to make amends
France wing Vincent Clerc is confident that his young team-mates can get their Six Nations campaign back on track this weekend with a win against Italy at the Stade de France.
France wing Vincent Clerc is confident that his young team-mates can get their Six Nations campaign back on track this weekend with a win against Italy at the Stade de France.
Despite being the tournament's top scorer, the 26-year-old will have to be content with a place on the bench for Sunday's game with coach Marc Lièvremont preferring the Clermont pair of Aurelien Rougerie and Julien Malzieu on the wings.
Clerc was disappointed at the way France performed against England in the Stade de France but believes that a change of tactics could make the difference against a powerful Italian pack.
“I think we will be able to do something attractive against the Italians,” declared the Toulouse player.
“We fell into the English trap again which was frustrating but I'm still confident that we can do something in this year's tournament. We have a lot of talent in that side.”
Clerc admitted that while this year's Six Nations had seen the return of France's own particular style of running rugby, the England game had seen the return of another traditional French bugbear – indiscipline.
“We conceded a lot of penalties and played a lot of the game in our own half,” admitted Clerc.
“We were less dynamic against the English. We had less quick ball which made it difficult to break through their defence because they were always ready.
“It's a shame to have conceded a try so early in the game because after that we played most of the game in our own half. Wilkinson was converting penalties and the English played a very clean game while we gave away a lot of unnecessary penalties.”
Whilst disappointed with France's disciplinary display, Clerc was also quick to suggest that their gameplan may have played into the hands of England, a mistake that they are unwilling to repeat against Italy.
“I think we should have played more of a kicking game,” Clerc said.
“For example, we should have put more pressure on their full-back because he didn't seem particularly at ease in fielding kicks. Maybe we should have focused more on this aspect of our game and it's certainly something that we'll look at for the match against Italy.”
It's been a difficult couple of weeks for Marc Lièvremont since the loss to England and while much has been made of the coach's decision to award three new caps for the Italy game, Clerc insists that they are still very much in the hunt for the Six Nations Championship.
“The tournament isn't finished. We have Italy this weekend and Wales after that,” he said.
“We have a young team who are in need of experience but that is what they are getting at the moment and we'll be there to win this weekend.”
By Ian Moriarty