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French coach Marc Lièvremont has his explained his decision to leave out centre Mathieu Bastareaud and recall veteran prop Sylvain Marconnet in to his 30-man squad for the Six Nations.
The 34-year-old Marconnet has 80 international caps, but played only one Six Nations match last year - the 33-10 home win against Ireland. His presence will give Lièvremont added toughness, experience and leadership.
"I have faith in him, his competitive spirit, his experience, his versatility," said Lièvremont.
"He can play on the left, on the right. He may not be the Sylvain Marconnet of 10 years ago ... but I preferred him to less experienced guys."
Bastareaud played all of the Six Nations games last year, but was then dropped for Tests against Fiji, Argentina and Australia.
"I asked him, before November, to improve his physical form and state of mind. I wasn't listened to, " said Lièvremont.
"From all the feedback I've had from Stade Français, there are better [players] today at outside centre than Mathieu Bastareaud.
"We can regret it, given his enormous potential. Even if there is an injury to one of the centres, we'll call up [wing] Julien Malzieu because we like Clément Poitrenaud in [midield]."
David Marty was preferred to Florian Fritz at centre, and scrum-half Julien Dupuy was also left out along with the 22-year-old Bastareaud.
But Lièvremont insists "they are not excluded" from an eventual return before he names his squad for the World Cup later this year adding that loose forwards Wenceslas Lauret and Louis Picamoles are also still in the running.
France won the Grand Slam last year, but ended the season with a stinging 16-59 home defeat to Australia that rocked the team.
France begin their ***le defence against Scotland at Stade de France on February 5, then travel to play Ireland.
The loss to Australia - where France capitulated after being level 13-13 at half-time - has made Lièvremont reassess his own leadership skills.
Lièvremont says he needs to "to be stricter, to be clearer" with his players and that the Australia debacle highlighted how there was "a collective failure" in his team to respond to the Wallabies.
"The highest level often comes down to small details that can have a dramatic importance when you're confronted with the very, very high level," said Lièvremont.
In recent days, captain Thierry Dusautoir pledged to improve his communication skills at the behest of Lièvremont, as France failed to show a united front after the Australia match amid raging criticism from the nation's press.
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3820_6673607,00.html
He was the big difference in France last year sucking in defenders all over the place...I doubt that anybody in the world let alone France is as difficult a man to stop... 18 stone going at high speed ....also he is a very powerful defender too....His exclusion is madness.
