THE VIEW IN France on how their national team has performed in the Six Nations this year is no different to the consensus on these shores.
Former Munster scrum-half Mike Prendergast is now working as skills coach at Top 14 club Grenoble, making him well-placed to give us insight into les Bleus and their travails ahead of the clash with Ireland on Saturday evening.
The lack of shape in France’s attacking play is galling to an ambitious coach like Prendergast, particularly given the fact that head coach Philippe Saint-André has previously been in charge of highly-organised teams.
“At the moment, they don’t seem to have any structures or patterns to work from. Just looking at Saint-André with Gloucester and Sale from a few years back, they were quite structured but in this campaign, it looks like there’s no direction.
When you don’t have a framework, everything else gets lost. They’re losing numbers at the breakdown because of it, and then losing that quick ball and they’re playing off slow ball. You can talk about the backs and the individuals that are there, but when you don’t have a platform to work from it’s quite difficult.”
22-year-old Jules Plisson has suffered “a bit of stick” for his part in the failure to perform, reveals Prendergast. However, the Grenoble coach points out that the lack of structure being provided for the Stade Français playmaker is certainly not helping.
Further out the backline, Mathieu Bastareaud continues to be selected in the 13 shirt, but Prendergast is unconvinced that the heavyweight Toulon centre is the answer in that position.
“I don’t think he’s a 13; I think he’s a 12. If you look at Toulon, they have Giteau at 12 most of the time, with Bastareaud outside. He’s got great strengths obviously, his physical strength is huge.
“I think they’re relying on him a lot at the moment and it’s quite easy to read from the opposition point of view. You can see him being double-tagged most of the time, one going low, one going high.
“Because they rely on him a huge amount, it’s an area that hopefully we’ll be comfortable with defending. Their midfield haven’t really been creative.”
Prendergast says the French are missing someone in the mould of Aurélien Rougerie in the centre, a decision-maker and an organiser. A calming influence and a leader is badly needed at present.
The decision not to recall Morgan Parra at scrum-half is one that baffles Prendergast, but he jokes that “it’s a great call” from an Irish point of view. Maxime Machenaud is a “nuggety” presence, but simply doesn’t have as rounded a game as Parra.
In stark contrast to the messy approach of Saint-André and the French has been the ever-improving Irish machine led by Joe Schmidt. For a young coach such as himself, Prendergast explains that it has been enjoyable watching Ireland’s progress.
“They’ve plans, structures, frameworks to work from and you can see that the players have really bought into it. You see guys coming off the bench who are hungry but know exactly their roles.
Like Leinster, it’s nothing out of the ordinary, but they do the basics really well. They’re creating that quick, go-forward ball and they’re a joy to watch. Then you have an environment of competitiveness around the squad. The bar has been raised every single week; it’s a credit to the Joe Schmidt and his coaching staff.”
It all adds up to Prendergast having confidence in Ireland’s chances of securing the championship with a victory in Paris on Saturday. Form suggests that Ireland are clearly the better team, but the former Young Munster Director of Rugby believes the home side will produce their best performance of the season.
“I don’t think it’s going to be what everyone thinks. The French are not the most consistent obviously, but they are the one nation that can come back from this stick. In Paris on Saturday evening, with the whole country on top of them, I do think they’ll put in a performance, but I think they will come up short.
“Joe has tweaked his game plan most weeks, and it’s worked quite well. I’m sure himself and his staff will have their homework done on how they’re going to win this game.”
