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Laporte fears home nations threat Posted: Saturday February 15, 2003 7:35 AM
Bernard Laporte tells Rugby World's Ian Borthwick why he feels under threat from all the home nations. “AS de fautes! Pas de fautes!" Hammered out like a mantra for the modern game, these words, loosely translated as 'no mistakes!', have become a byword for France and the platform upon which Bernard Laporte has built his Grand Slam team. "Pas de fautes!" he screamed at his players during half-time in last year's Six Nations opener against Italy. And, thanks to French TV, millions of armchair experts were treated to a memorable 'speech' by France's coach, haranguing his troops as if they were recalcitrant schoolboys. A speech so memorable, in fact, that not only did France become the most disciplined, least penalized team of the 2002 Six Nations, but some sharp advertising men also hooked into the dramatic potential of Laporte's machine-gun volubility, and the France coach is now to be seen in a similarly tyrannical role, advertising pasta on prime-time TV. Such are the wages of success for the bespectacled former scrum-half, who is now in his third season as coach of the Tricolores. The old nicknames of 'le Kaiser' or 'Bernie le Dingue' (crazy Bernie) linger on, but across the board in French rugby the 38-year-old inspires utmost respect. Not merely because he enabled France to win a seventh Grand Slam last season, and sits on a credit of 17 wins, 11 losses and a draw, but because he has brought a new maturity to the France side. "The thing I was most proud of in last year's Six Nations was that we incurred fewer penalties than any other team," Laporte says. "The players came to realise that to win games you have to avoid giving points to the opposition. It's quite simple, but for us that is a major step forward." Gone are the days when opposition teams could count on the French to lose their cool, respond to verbal or physical provocation and concede penalties by the bucket-load. In last year's crunch game against England, France conceded only nine penalties, only one of which gave Jonny Wilkinson a shot at goal. If France do have an advantage this year, it is in the stable nature of the squad. Because, even though new faces have come into the limelight, such as Toulouse wings Vincent Clerc and Cédric Heymans, Laporte has largely been drawing from the same group of players. "Over the past two years we've developed a squad which is more or less homogeneous. This enables us to save time when we come back together and has made it easier to get a degree of continuity in what we're trying to do. We may not have the best team in the world, nor the best players in the world in individual positions, but we have one of the most balanced squads. "Winning the Grand Slam was a great thrill for us, especially as we were able to finish in such style [44-5 versus Ireland]. But that is behind us and we must start again. Every championship brings a fresh set of problems, a fresh set of parameters which we all have to adapt to. But our aim is going to be the same as every other year: to attain a degree of consistency in our performances." This year's opening game will be by far the biggest test. "England is the strongest team in Europe and we're going to be up against it at Twickenham. They have a well-oiled machine and there is a lot of mutual understanding amongst the players. But you just have to look at how Wales did against the All Blacks to be reminded that there are no easy games in this championship. "Scotland proved by beating South Africa that on their day they can take on anyone, while for me Ireland were true to form by beating Australia. In fact, going to Dublin will be almost as big a challenge as playing England at Twickenham and if we want to win the Six Nations again we will have to be on top form to beat the Irish away."
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