Les Bleus to build through consistency

After chopping and changing during the last Six Nations and enlarging their scope of selection even more for the tour to Australia, France's coaching team have promised that there will be very few changes to their squad during the November Tests.

After chopping and changing during the last Six Nations and enlarging their scope of selection even more for the tour to Australia, France's coaching team have promised that there will be very few changes to their squad during the November Tests.

“We're working with a perspective towards construction, but we now want to work with a more closed group, to work on combinations and building partnerships,” said Head Coach Marc Lièvremont.

“That does not mean there won't be changes. There are always injuries and we have a list of players we'll be following attentively this weekend in the Top 14. There are about 35 players in our short-term plans.”

A number of players owe their places in the 23-man squad to face Argentina to their performances on the June tour to Australia, when a lot of big-name players were absent due to club commitments.

“We always said that tour was not a holiday. Certain players had everything to gain form that tour and it's no surprise to see them still with us,” said Lièvremont.

The selection of young Toulouse full-back Maxime Médard, the only uncapped player, was an “obvious” choice.

“He's been producing excellent performances at Stade Toulousain, we know him from the age-group levels and were always sure that he would become a top level player. We expect a lot from him,” explained the Head Coach.

Benoit Baby last played for France against Australia in Brisbane in July 2005 while Toulouse lock Romain Millo-Chluski's only cap dates back to June of that year, when France drew 30-30 with South Africa in Durban.

“[Baby] is a player we've been following for a long time,” said Lièvremont.

“He fits in perfectly with our project thanks to his skills and polyvalence. We might use him as an outside centre. Florian Fritz is returning to his best form, while there are other players with a lot of potential like Yann David. Either way we don't lack for talent in that postilion, which is great.”

The coaching team confirmed that Frédéric Michalak was considered, but like Toulouse team-mate David Skrela, who has had an inconsistent start to the season, he will have to wait before returning to the national set-up.

“In our thinking, [Michalak] is more a number nine. We thought about him, we know that he is in form,” explained Lièvremont.

“We have some question marks over the scrum-half position with players coming back from injury, notably Jean-Baptiste Elissalde. We saw him at the Stade de France and it raised certain doubts. The same goes for Dimitri Yachvili. So Michalak's polyvalence could serve us.”

“We know that we can count on him, we're going to let him find his feet again at his club, he's barely climbed off the plane,” added backs coach Emile N'Tamack.

“Sébastien Chabal in the second row seems like the logical choice to us after what he showed in Australia,” said forwards Didier Retières.

“He confirmed all the good things we thought about him. As for Benoît Lecouls, his performances have been evident. Benjamin Kayser we know already, he has exploded onto the scene in England and his selection is a not by default because of William Servat's injury,”

One of the notable absentees from the squad is Biarritz lock Jérôme Thion, who might well be recalled.

“Jérôme has played 80 minutes twice since the start of the season,” said Lièvremont.

“He had a huge season last year with the World Cup. He was injured very little and played a lot with his club. His performances (this season) were not complete.

“Romain Millo-Chluski has played very well. We've picked him before but he could not play due to injury. Jérôme is going to benefit from a weekend of forced rest – he's one of the players we can count on for the future. ”

Lièvremont also dispelled any notions of an agreement with club coaches over selections (seven Toulouse players were called up, while Montpellier are next best with three representatives.)

“The players who deserve to be selected are here. There is no arrangement with the coaches,” he said.