(Photo by Ross Land/Getty Images)
But they still have all first choice props and hookers, one of their first choice locks, two first choice scrum halves, and their number one inside centre and fullback.
The midfield combination of Ma’a Nonu and Isaia Toeava, two 100 kg dreadnoughts, could well destroy the French.
Still, question marks abound over an inexperienced loose forward trio, as well as having three uncapped forwards on the bench. Irrespective of this, these men are all in form, with Adam Thompson (open side) and Liam Messam (No. 8), statistically two of the standout performers of the Super 14.
The silver lining is that this exposes more players to the rigours of test football.
France has reason to be confident, to a point.
They have been enterprising under the stewardship of Marc Lievremont, but have struggled to maintain consistency in their last two years having not won more than two straight matches since the World Cup.
In the last two Six Nations, they have shown flashes of brilliance, but have played second fiddle to Wales and Ireland (the respective Grand Slammers). Furthermore, against England, their oldest foes apart from the All Blacks; and the traditional barometer of Northern Hemisphere supremacy, they sit on a three match losing streak.
Even their clubs did not stomp around Europe with their usual authority this year, with only Toulouse making the Heineken Cup quarter finals this year, and Perpignan breaking Stade Toulousain, Stade Francais, and Biarritz Olympique’s 15 year stranglehold on the Top 14 title.
Still, it is as close to a full strength team that any Northern Hemisphere nation has sent to the South in many years, and easily strong enough to cause what would still be considered an upset.
Plenty will rest on the shoulders of their key players, such as Sylvain Maconnet, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, and Cedric Heymans. With the team having only 346 test caps, these four players account for 224 of the team’s international appearances.
Prediction
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