Summary
FRANCE Coach - Bernard Laporte Captain - Raphael Ibanez Key man - Yannick Jauzion (left) Rising star - Thierry Dusautoir Road to France - The hosts qualified automatically having reached the semi- finals in 2003 Pool games: Sept 7 - Argentina (Paris)Sept 16 - Namibia (Toulouse)Sept 21 - Ireland (Paris)Sept 30 - Georgia (Marseilles)
World Cup record1987 - Runners-up1991 - Quarter-final1995 - Semi- final1999 - Runners-up2003 - Semi-finalSee the full content of this document
Extract
Rugby Union: Rugby World Cup 2007
Form guide 2007Feb 3: Italy (Rome) - Won 39-3Feb 11: Ireland (Dublin) - Won 20-17Feb 24: Wales (Paris) - Won 32-21March 11: England (Twickenham) - Lost 26-18March 17: Scotland (Paris) - Won 46- 19June 2: New Zealand (Auckland) - Lost 42-11June 9: New Zealand (Wellington) - Lost 61-10Aug 11: England (Twickenham) - Won 21- 15Aug 18: England (Marseilles) - Won 22-9Aug 26: Wales (Cardiff) - Won 34-7
IRB ranking - ThirdOdds - 9-1Western Mail verdict - Under Laporte they've seldom sparkled, yet still picked up a succession of Six Nations titles via a decidedly un-Gallic pragmatic route. With home advantage, anything is possible, and they have the weaponry to do damage. You'd expect them to make the semis, but that's where they are likely to run into a big Bok wall and may come unstuck. SquadBacks: Pierre Mignoni, Jean- Baptiste Elissalde, Frederic Michalak, David Skrela, Lionel Beauxis, Yannick Jauzion, Damien Traille, David Marty, Christophe Dominici, Aurelien Rougerie, Cedric Heymans, Vincent Clerc, Clement PoitrenaudForwards: Nicolas Mas, Pieter de Villiers, Olivier Milloud, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Raphael Ibanez, Sebastien Bruno, Dmitri Szarzews...See the full content of this document
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