French ready for the pipes

The French Rugby League team finished their preparation for Sunday’s match against Scotland in the Australian capital tomorrow, with a run on Canberra Stadium on Saturday morning.

In warm and clear conditions the French team was put through their paces on the ground, and will head into the match against the Braveheart’s with an unchanged line-up to what was named earlier in the week.

French Coach John Monie said his side had been relaxed in their preparations, and had not taken too much notice of their favourites tag ahead of their opening match of their World Cup campaign.

“The guys trained well today and they are having fun at training while still remaining focused on the task at hand,” Monie said. “We haven’t spoken about being favourites at all this week and it’s not something we’ll be focusing on, we just need to make sure we have our own game in order.”

Monie highlighted Scotland’s key positions as the main dangers for his team, with some well drilled and experienced players scattered throughout the Scottish team.

“Obviously with the hooker Henderson and fullback Robertson they have some key attacking men,” he said. “We’re also well aware of how good a player their halfback Danny Brough is as well and he was not far off England selection for this tournament.”

French five-eighth Thomas Bosc said he was looking forward to the challenge of steering the French team around the park tomorrow, and said there was a good mixture of Super League expertise in his side.

“Playing in the halves gives me more of a chance to become involved so I’m keen to get my hands on the ball,” Bosc said. “We have a lot of Catalans players in the team, while Julien Rinaldi plays for London and Eric Anselme for Leeds.”

The France v Scotland match kicks off at Canberra Stadium at 5.30pm tomorrow afternoon. This will be followed with LIVE coverage of the Australia v New Zealand match on the big screen at the ground at 7.30pm.