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No off-field distractions for France, insists Brunel
By Peter Hanson
Jacques Brunel is adamant there will be no off-field distractions for his France side at the Six Nations.
On Tuesday, the French Rugby Federation confirmed its headquarters had been searched by police, although further details were not forthcoming.
Brunel will take charge of Les Bleus for the first time when France welcome Ireland to Paris on February 3 and the new head coach insists the focus is purely on rugby.
"All the problems surrounding all those issues have had no influence on us whatsoever," said Brunel.
"We don't know what's happening, we have been kept separate from all of that, and so we haven't been influenced by that at all."
France last won the Six Nations in 2010, and former coach Guy Noves was sacked after a poor return that yielded just seven wins from the 21 Tests he oversaw.
But Brunel is adamant his side can compete for the title.
"We want to be contenders throughout the tournament. We're fully focused on the first match, but we'll try to be contenders," he said.
"The first thing we have to do is create a common ambition, a common story where we feel at ease."
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Even with absences we still had the cattle to make the playoffs. As it was, we nearly stumbled our way into the top 8. Which shows just how easy it was to get there. And still we failed. As for Razor, there are many instances of him patching up the Crusaders roster. Numerous. Several players Id never heard of. Also, using AB legend John Afoa was a classic.
But, some of the games we were losing were from schoolboy errors, or downright confusion. Either the players were really dumb (they weren’t) or they were poorly coached. Given the repetitive nature of errors, brain fades, poor decision making, & loose structures, this all lands with the coaching group.
With only six playoff spots now in SR, & Aussie franchises now consolidated to four, 2025 looks like a tight one. We'll have to tough it out under Penney & hope for the best.
Go to commentsAgree we need a 10, 12, 13 refresh. ASAP. Well, next season now lol. Reiko should be put back on the wing. He'll be an absolute menace there. Imagine 11 Reiko 14 Clarke 15 Jordan as the backfield unit.
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