(Six Nations) French look on the positive side
(03-13 12:28)
France must stop asking questions of themselves and think positively, according to center Mathieu Bastareaud.
The 24-year-old was surprisingly dropped from the starting line-up for last Saturday's 13-13 draw with Ireland as he had made more of an impact than most of the backs in their three Six Nations defeats, AFP reports.
However, whether he is in the starting XV or not for the final game with Scotland at the Stade de France this Saturday, he is hoping the whole squad can pull off one good performance.
“If we all have the will to put on a great performance against the Scots, then we can do something special,'' said Bastareaud, whose constant battle with his weight has been a worry for France coach Philippe Saint-Andre.
“The talent and the quality is there. We have stopped this series of defeats. Now it is for us to move in an upward spiral.
“It will be good to end with a victory but it will not be easy. We are not going to say we are going to score 40 points against the Scots in order to give pleasure to everybody. It isn't as simple as that.''
Bastareaud, whose two tries in his 13 tests came in the 18-9 Six Nations win away to the Scots at Murrayfield in 2010, said that it was time for him and his team-mates to stop thinking about what would happen if they lost.
“The objective is to win, and if possible in style,'' said the Toulon powerhouse.
“It is imperative that we stop asking ourselves 10,000 questions, to think of what will happen if we lose. We have to think about winning, to be positive and to go out to play the Scots with our heads held high and be proud to play in this final match.
“It will be a beautiful match. The two teams are going to want to put on a spectacle. For us it has been a complicated tournament. There has not been much pleasure to take out of it. We need to try and enjoy ourselves.’’
France need realistically to beat Scotland to avoid finishing bottom of the table for the first time in the Six Nations and for the first time since 1999, when it was still the Five Nations.
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