Laporte likely to rest burned-out stars for daunting southern tour

By IAN BORTHWICK

Two tests against Argentina in Buenos Aires followed by a third against the All Blacks, all in the space of three weeks, is a tough call in anybody's book.

But throw in a gruelling French season, complicated travel arrangements plus a solid dose of jet-lag and you have what looks like a recipe for disaster for les Tricolores on their forthcoming tour.

From the outset, Bernard Laporte knew it would be risky and accepted it as such.

The French coach regards this winter's venture to the Southern Hemisphere as more of a nuisance than anything else.

But like John Mitchell with the All Blacks' tour of Europe late last year, Laporte has decided to cut his losses, meaning the 26-man touring group to be announced on Thursday will almost certainly be largely experimental.

Despite a disappointing Six Nations campaign in which France finished third after losing to England and Ireland, the majority of the players who will form the foundation of France's World Cup squad have already been identified.

But after several seasons of virtually non-stop competition, some of France's more experienced internationals have shown distinct signs of burn-out, and the French management will no doubt do them a favour by asking them to take some time out.

Fabien Pelous, the Toulouse captain one test away from becoming the most-capped French forward of all time, will stay at home, as will destructive flanker Serge Betsen, loosehead prop Jean-Jacques Crenca, lock Olivier Brouzet and most probably other senior players like Raphael Ibanez and Olivier Magne.

"This tour is more of a burden than anything else," Laporte confided yesterday. "But at the same time there are a number of players who need games at the top level, and this is the opportunity to get them back into the swing of things."

Without naming names, Laporte is clearly thinking of influential captain Fabien Galthie and South African-born prop Pieter de Villiers, both from Stade Francais and both involved in the French club final in Paris over the weekend.

Galthie missed most of the Six Nations through injury, and De Villiers, considered by many to be the world's best tighthead, was suspended after testing positive for Ecstasy and cocaine.

Thomas Castaignède, the livewire centre now playing for the Saracens in London also looks a certainty for the tour.

After being out for 18 months with an Achilles tendon injury, he appears to have regained his pace and acceleration, but in the absence of New Zealander Tony Marsh, convalescing after chemotherapy, still has to convince Laporte that he can produce the goods at the international level.

"Our selection policy for this tour is quite simple," Laporte said. "We will be picking the players who are in form at the moment and who have put their hands up in the final phases of the French championship or the European [Heineken] Cup."

Laporte was reluctant to compare France's top players with their New Zealand counterparts observed in the Super 12.

"I can't say how strong the All Blacks will be, but the fact that there were three New Zealand teams in the semifinals of the Super 12 is enough to prove what a challenge they will represent for us," he said.

France might be on a hiding to nothing, and given the explosive nature of Mitchell's new squad, les Bleus may be on the receiving end of a scoreline similar to the 54-7 defeat at Athletic Park in 1999.

At the time, that was a disaster. But there is little need to remind New Zealanders of what happened a few months later, when the two teams met again in a certain semifinal at Twickenham.

* Ian Borthwick is rugby writer for French sports newspaper L'Equipe.