France tour of Argentina
Dusautoir unlikely to face Pumas
ESPN Staff
May 30, 2012
France skipper Thierry Dusautoir is wrapped up, England v France, Rugby World Cup quarter-final, Eden Park, Auckland, October 8, 2011
Thierry Dusautoir looks set to be left out of the France squad for the Argentina tour © Getty Images
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France boss Philippe Saint-Andre has suggested that skipper and IRB Player of the Year Thierry Dusautoir will not travel with the squad on their two-Test tour of Argentina.

Argentina have selected a host of unproven talent in their squad for the two Tests but have also called on veterans such as Felipe Contepomi and Rodrigo Roncero. For Saint-Andre, he is treating the tour as a chance to see some of the next generation of Les Bleus talent in a pressure cauldron such as Argentina. After a fairly intense season - with the Top 14 Orange only finishing on June 9 - Saint Andre plans to rest a few of his stellar names.

"Some guys haven't stopped for 15 or 16 months," Saint-Andre said. "They need rest if we want to find them fresh for the November internationals. We're not going to take many players in their 30s... with a plan that they can recuperate mentally and physically.

"We'll take some youngsters and three or four guys with great potential whom we think can progress but need to experience the highest level to acquire that extra dimension."

In relation to Dusautoir, Saint-Andre said: "He's a competitor and he wants to come. But if we don't rest him now, we'll never rest him. He give so much, he needs to recharge his batteries."

France endured a mixed Six Nations as they drew with Ireland, lost to England and Wales and beat Scotland and Italy. Saint-Andre admits the performances fell short of what he expected from his side. "It's not possible to be happy with two victories and a draw!" he said. "Defensively, we produced our best performance against Wales. Afterwards, we saw that by trying to impose our game a little more, we scored tries on turnover ball: 90% of tries scored were from our own initiatives.

"We suffered in adapting in attack and reorganising defensively. We also lacked precision in the final pass, drop-goals and goal-kicking."

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