‘We should no longer be haunted by the fear of defeat’ – France backs coach Lagisquet

The French rugby team should no longer run onto the pitch fearing defeat after their 26-24 victory over England last weekend, backs coach Patrice Lagisquet told AFP on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old former France wing – nicknamed in his prime as the ‘Bayonne Express’ – added that a second successive win in this year’s Six Nations when they host Italy on Sunday was crucial to the team’s development.

Lagisquet admitted that the performance against England – when a late converted try by Gael Fickou gave them victory – left room for improvement but it did relieve some of the pressure on the coaching staff after a miserable 2013 in which they won just twice in 11 Tests, and those against Scotland and Tonga.

“For me it is not a match to refer back to in terms of an all-round performance because defensively we were below par,” said Lagisquet.

“Yes for the spectators that sort of tight match as a spectacle is often the type they find the most pleasing. But for the coaches it is a hard experience to live through.

“Afterwards we said to each other that it is not going to be every day we play against teams of the level of the All Blacks or South Africa.

“We said let’s continue and look for that little bit extra. Now it is crucial that these things become part of our DNA, because we were bold enough to try them.

“We should no longer be haunted by the fear of defeat, of doing badly.

“It is in that spirit that we will be able to talk of things having at last clicked.”

Lagisquet, capped 46 times from 1983 to 1991 scoring 20 tries, highlighted the defence as an area where the French would hope to improve after the Italians showed in their 23-15 opening defeat by champions Wales that they are capable of taking their try-scoring chances.

“The defence needs to be worked on more as we didn’t do much on that side of things for the past fortnight,” he said.

“We also lacked some mutual understanding during the England game, not being on the same hymn sheet.

“But that is understandable, as we still have some players who haven’t been part of the set-up for long.

“We also didn’t tackle as well as we could have done. Afterwards, though, we said to the players we were pleased with their eagerness to attack, to take the intitiative.”

Lagisquet praised the backs for their inventivenss in the England game, especially full-back Brice Dulin and debutant fly-half Jules Plisson.

And he said there would probably not be many changes for the Italy game as the priority now was to put together a run of victories.

“The balance of the argument over making changes is always a subtle one,” said Lagisquet, who left his post as director of rugby at Biarritz in 2012 to assist national head coach Philippe Saint-Andre.

“We ask ourselves a lot of questions when it comes to picking the team. We try to come up with the perfect mix taking into account all the factors.

“At the same time we know that it is futile to plan further ahead than winning one’s next match.

“We are in the process of trying to mature our squad, to give them the base on which we can instil in them the necessary confidence so that they can give the best sides a run for their money.”

Lagisquet, who coached Biarritz to three French titles in his spell as head coach from 1997-2008, said they were working towards having a squad capable of beating Australia in the Test series Down Under later this year.

“Our priority therefore before going there is to put a sequence of wins together.

“We have been trying for a while now to bring some stability to the side, although that doesn’t prevent us from bringing in a new player from time to time.”