New France coach Guy Noves pledges to bring back French flair

'I’m not Zorro, I’m not arriving with a magic wand,' Noves said.

(Getty Images)

Facing a huge task to rebuild France’s confidence following a woeful World Cup campaign that ended with two painfully embarrassing records, new coach Guy Novès has vowed to start by rekindling French flair.

Les Bleus exited the tournament in terrible fashion under former coach Philippe Saint-André, crushed 62-13 by New Zealand for the biggest defeat in the World Cup knockout stages, and most points any France side has conceded.

The unpopular Saint-André’s tumultuous four-year reign saw him instill a more pragmatic style of rugby into a side traditionally famed for attacking, and included a last-place finish in the Six Nations.

“There are some positive things and negative things [from Saint-André’s era],” Novès said yesterday at his first news conference. “We have a different leaning, for attacking, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

The 61-year-old, announced as Saint-André’s successor back in May, led Toulouse to four European Cups and 10 French titles playing a high-energy brand of mostly entertaining rugby. “[We need to] put our game into place and pick players who we think correspond to our vision of rugby,” he said. “To win, you need to have the ball and defend sometimes.”

Novès has little time, with France kicking off their Six Nations campaign with home games against Italy on 6 February and Ireland the following weekend.

He sounded a note of caution not to expect too much, too soon. “I’m not Zorro, I’m not arriving with a magic wand,” Novès said. “Before thinking about the day after tomorrow, you have to think about tomorrow and even about today. Rather than searching for remedies, I have to start the best way possible.”

Novès also has to win back the fans after years of turgid rugby under Saint-André, whose statistics make painful viewing: 23 losses in 45 games, three fourth-place finishes and a wooden spoon in the four Six Nations he oversaw.

Saint-André will go down as the most unpopular France coach in the professional era, not only sacrificing widely admired flair for physicality, but also constantly tinkering with the side and achieving little continuity.

Despite having his players in a training camp for three months before the World Cup, Saint-André’s side failed to cope with the pressure – losing 24-9 to Ireland in the Pool D decider. “Most people see things in a negative way, I would like to thank Saint-André for all the hard work he’s done with the side,” said Novès, adding that Saint-André’s emphasis on defence could prove some use in shaping his new side.

“There are some positive things I can use, because we don’t have much time,” he added. “France was good at the breakdown, apart from perhaps the last match against New Zealand, and was [generally] strong in defence.”

To have players performing at their best, however, Novès will need to ease deep-set tensions between the national team and the country’s powerful clubs in the cash-rich Top 14 – something Saint-André did not manage to do.

One of his other tasks is persuading long-serving France captain Thierry Dusautoir, who has 80 test caps, to continue his international career. Although the 33-year-old flanker has yet to commit, Novès holds a lot of sway because Dusautoir was also his captain at Toulouse.

“We haven’t met with him yet,” Novès said. “We’ll know shortly.”