McGeechan keen to spoil French party
March 22, 2002

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan believes his side can spoil any plan France have of securing a Grand Slam in this year's Six Nations Championship.

McGeechan's team will welcome France to Murrayfield on Saturday with les bleus looking to move one step nearer the top international prize in northern hemisphere rugby.

Their task is by no means easy. France arrive in Edinburgh on the back of six straight wins, which include the scalps of South Africa, Australia and most memorably Clive Woodward's all-conquering outfit on their last outing three weeks ago.

"When we get it right we can be very dangerous against anyone," said the former Lions chief. "The problem we have is not being consistent. We do two or three things well, then something badly.

"We are striving to maintain a level of performance, but it is an evolving process rather than a grand design."

McGeechan has made two changes to the side beaten in Dublin, bringing back the Leslie brothers to provide defensive strength in midfield and the back-row.

Lock Stuart Grimes is an unfortunate casualty of the need to adopt a more abrasive approach, with Jason White moving into the second row to create the vacancy filled by Martin Leslie.

Brother John has more to prove having been restored to inside-centre after a fine recent run of form for Northampton.

His partnership with Gregor Townsend will be vital to Scotland's chances of opening up a French defence which looked impregnable for long periods against England.

With skipper Fabien Galthie leading the charge and Olivier Magne back to his world-class best in the back-row, anything other than a solid success for the visitors would be something of a surprise.

But Scottish captain Bryan Redpath insists the home side are not intimidated by their illustrious opponents.

"France have been hugely impressive, not just against England but in the matches before that," said the Sale scrum-half. "We will have to play above ourselves to compete and we have not done that so far this year.

"But we are not intimidated. If we worry too much about France we will be waiting for them to do something and won't perform ourselves. We have to be on the front foot."

French coach Bernard Laporte has also made two changes, bringing in former skipper Fabien Pelous and Jean Baptiste Poux for injured lock David Auradou and prop Pieter de Villiers respectively.

It has hardly weakened an already impressive line-up, which Redpath knows well from his two-year stint with Narbonne.

But the diminutive Borderer is not too concerned about the French, he prefers to concentrate on the Scots' performance, and is all too aware that any repeat of the Dublin debacle will not be tolerated.

"The memories of that defeat are still there," he admitted. "At international level, you can't expect any favours and Ireland didn't give us any - it was us who made their task so much easier by the errors we made.

"That has gone now. We have to move on and push ourselves that much harder. We won't get anywhere by thinking it is just going to happen.

"France are one of the best teams in the world. We have to get into their faces and get some satisfaction from the game."

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