Those crazy French...

I blogged at the start of the tournament about sides that picked players out of position, and highlighted the French selecting a wing at fullback. Lo and behold the Argentinians targeted him successfully, the French lost, and the idea was binned (I'm not suggesting it was anything to do with my blog, I'm just saying). Anyway, you'd think Laporte had learned his lesson, but he's made a couple of odd choices for the match against the Kiwis, the most obvious of which, is Damien Traille at fullback. Now Traille is a good centre, a competent fly half, and has a huge boot, which probably gives him decent basics for fullback on paper, but to get his first start in a quarter-final against the All Blacks is a bit odd. Laporte insists it's because of his kicking game. I'll come back to that in a minute. The other slightly strange one is picking Beauxis at ten. By all accounts he did well against Georgia, but to leapfrog Skrela and Michalak is still strange. Neither has been that good, and form counts for a lot, but Georgia is one thing, the All Blacks are another. It looks to me like Laporte has picked Beauxis for his control and kicking, ditto Traille. I'm not sure what the French need on the eve of this match is more control and kicking. They need something out of the ordinary, and I'm not sure leaving out Poitrenaud and Michalak is the answer. They might bomb, or they might produce another performance like 1999, but surely having a go is better than trying a conservative style that will probably produce a solid performance and dignified defeat. Being French they'll probably produce the game of their lives and prove me wrong (who knew Lamaison was such a good running flyhalf in '99?), but I'd like to see them go for it, with talented players who know their positions, rather than slightly uninspiring players who are out of position.