Ashamed French rugby team eyes redemption - Yahoo!

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Tournament snubs

MARCOUSSIS, France (AFP) – The French team are determined to set aside the historic defeat by Italy last Saturday and beat Wales in their final Six Nations match at the Stade de France this weekend, wing Alexis Palisson warned Tuesday.

The 23-year-old was not part of the side humiliated first by Italy and then by their coach Marc Lievremont, who accused them of being cowards and betraying their country in the manner they had performed in the 22-21 defeat in Rome.

Palisson - who will win his 14th cap on Saturday after being named in the starting XV as one of five changes to the previous line-up - admitted that he had seen some pretty downhearted players when he joined up with them on Monday.

"They were broken men [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," said Palisson, who has made one appearance in the Six Nations this season as a replacement in the 17-9 defeat by England.

"The atmosphere was pretty glacial but that is understandable.

"They are ashamed of their performance. The six of us called up to the squad are trying to reassure them, to rebuild their morale, to give them a bit of freshness so we can round it off with a win against the Welsh.

"On the training pitch and off it, we try and talk to them, to inject a bit of enthusiasm, to get some confidence into our game."

Palisson, who confessed to being doubly surprised first at being recalled and then selected to start the match, denied that the usually flamboyant and flair-filled French side had lacked bite in attack which has seen them score just seven tries - one of them a penalty try against the Scots - in their four matches.

"I don't think that the attack has been inhibited," said Palisson, who has replaced the largely ineffective Yoann Huget in the starting XV.

"It is always difficult to play when one is on the back foot.

"But there are very good players here. They are players of the higest level. Perhaps we haven't had the success rate of other teams but that is also down to the lack of time we spend together during the tournament, as we are constantly toing and froing between here and our clubs.

"But we have the potential to do some really good things."

Palisson, who says he is well-prepared for the atmosphere at the training centre as he has experienced a tough Top 14 season at Brive who are struggling to avoid relegation, said playing Wales brought back good memories as he had scored one of his two international tries in the 26-20 win in Cardiff last year.

However, Palisson - whose father Didier formed an electrifying back partnership at Toulouse in the 1970's with Guy Noves and Eric Bonneval - said he was looking forward to the match against the Welsh [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who still stand an outside chance of winning the title should they win big and England lose heavily to Ireland.

But his dream of taking on the man he terms his role model Shane Williams will go unfulfilled after the Welsh wing was ruled out of the Paris game due to a knee injury.

Palisson said that he was not thinking of putting up an eyecatching performance because the Welsh match is the last before the World Cup squad is announced but more so that they can bow out of the Six Nations on a high note.

"I am trying to put that to the back of my mind," he said.

"The target, is to restore the honour to the French colours.
"We have obviously (World Cup selection) in the back of our minds, but I repeat, this match is about taking the French squad forward and forgetting what has happened in the past."