France Can Salvage Honour - Nallet | Thebigtip

Lionel Nallet, lock for France's rugby union side, believes that his country will "save our honour", by defeating England on Saturday.

Nallet's suggestion that the French team are currently lacking in the honour department stems from their 19-14 loss to South Pacific islanders, Tonga, last weekend. "There's a lot of motivation." He said.

France, despite being one of the stronger sides in the current World Cup, as evidenced by their progression to the quarter-finals, have been anything but convincing, so far. People looking to bet on rugby world cup 2011 will know this.

The side played against Japan in their opening game, achieving a "scrappy", to quote the BBC, 47-21 victory. "I think everybody thought it was going to be easy", lamented France coach, Marc Lievremont, at the time.

Les Bleus defeated Canada on September 18, but fell to the All Blacks a week later, losing by fourteen tries. France then conceded to Tonga in an encounter described as "rubbish", by Metz-born scrum-half, Morgan Parra.

Matters got worse when Lievremont began singling out his own players for criticism, leading to claims that France – much like their World Cup football team in 2010 – were being torn apart by infighting at the training ground. People following the rugby world cup betting should bear this in mind.

Lievremont addressed the concerns of his players on Sunday, by hosting a 'bonding session'. Equally, France's defence coach, Dave Ellis, as well as scrum-half, Dimitri Yachvili, have  moved to quash rumours that there are cracks appearing in the French side. "We're very together", Ellis said.

Yachvili, who was reportedly annoyed at the suggestion that his team were a heading for a collapse, was vocal in his defence of the French rugby team, "[France] are capable of going from basement to penthouse in seven days. A week is a long time in rugby."

France will play England at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday. France will be playing to avoid their third consecutive rugby world cup exit at the hands of England.