Marc Lievremont has been pleased with France's application during training © Getty Images

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Teams: France | Italy

France coach Marc Lievremont is taking nothing for granted as his men prepare to take on Italy at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Les Bleus are aiming to complete leg four of five in a potential Grand Slam, but have plenty of respect for Italy, who ran England close in round two before defeating Scotland in Rome last time out.

"We respect this team because they are more than respectable," he said. "We know they have the potential to frustrate us. It's a top-level match which we have to prepare for with seriousness.

"Italy are a great team, they troubled Ireland, more than troubled England and beat Scotland. Each of their matches was led like a commando operation."

France suffered their first genuine scare of the tournament with Wales' thrilling fightback in Cardiff two weeks ago and Lievremont has been pleased with the exacting standards that the players have placed upon themselves in the intervening weeks.

"They have really applied themselves in the training sessions," he said. "I told myself that if I felt them relax, I would have to take the slightest occasion to tick them off and bring them back to earth.

"But, for the moment, I have not had to do that. The debriefing after the Wales game allowed us to put our performance in Cardiff into perspective, tick off our insufficiencies. There has been a leap in quality regarding our pack. The players are really a lot more demanding. The week after the Ireland game was important. We really worked on jumps, lifts, timing."

France did suffer a setback in the latest round of Top 14 action however, with Montpellier flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo ruled out for three weeks after picking up a knee injury in his side's defeat to Toulouse.