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French Rugby Team
McBeth backs Nonu selection
The response from the French rugby team to that humiliating, demoralizing defeat last weekend will be one of the interesting aspects of the second test in Paris. The other will be the performance of Ma'a Nonu at second five eighth. Personally I am delighted that the powerful, thrill-providing Hurricanes' utility has been given this opportunity to prove he is capable of adequately filling this important role in a major test. As we have witnessed since Nonu's initial season in first class rugby, he is an incredibly effective attack weapon. All teams devise methods by which they can limit his effectiveness and often that is to ensure he is not provided with a one-on-one situation. When that occurs, the odds are that Nonu will break through and create havoc.
French ready to vent anger on Argentina
MARCOUSSI: Argentina, the emerging power of international rugby, will further test their credentials this weekend against a shell-shocked French side eager to restore their pride.
France will go into the game still reeling from back-to-back defeats by New Zealand - a 47-3 hammering and a more respectable 23-11 loss last week. "Saturday's test is the match we must not lose," team manager Jo Maso warned his players and the Pumas. "We want the team to keep on improving after their catastrophic showing in Lyon and last weekend's better performance. It's important to ram the point home." To add spice to the game, the Pumas are on a streak of four victories over France, the team they also face in the opening match of the World Cup next September.
French rugby great rejects 1986 drug win claims
France's most capped rugby player Philippe Sella has scotched claims the French were on drugs when they beat the All Blacks in Nantes in 1986.
Some All Blacks have suggested the French were taking artificial stimulants because they were so hyped for the match which they won, 16-3, after losing the first test in Toulouse, 19-7. All Blacks No. 8 Buck Shelford, who was knocked out in the game and had 16 stitches inserted in a torn scrotum, told The Dominion Post just last week that he was adamant the French were on drugs that day. "I believe they were. When I stood next to them in the tunnel before the match you could see it in their eyes. They were glazed - and that's not just one of them, it was all of them. They looked like they were on something." But Sella, who played at centre in Nantes, said the only drug was "Jacques Fouroux'', whose team talks goaded and inspired the French to victory.
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