Rugby: French skipper has plenty in the tank

A sunny Auckland day had French captain Thierry Dusautoir questioning other teams' tales of the harsh NZ winter as the squad trained in Epsom. Photo / Kenny Rodger

He came to rugby late but new French captain Thierry Dusautoir has made a serious impact in his short career.

It was Dusautoir who kept felling the All Blacks at Millennium Stadium in the last World Cup.

The loose forward has collected the Dark Destroyer moniker and also picked up his nation's captaincy for the first time on their trip to New Zealand after lock Lionel Nallet withdrew because of a rib cartilage problem.

Dusautoir and his teammates eased through some training yesterday in their first day in New Zealand as they contemplated an itinerary of tests in Dunedin and Wellington before they play in Australia.

The 27-year-old flanker has collected 22 caps with one of his strongest recollections being his devastating quarter-final performance when he was credited with an extraordinary 38 tackles against the All Blacks.

"It was a great souvenir, maybe there will be one more on this tour," he said of that triumph.

Dusautoir was born in the Ivory Coast and moved to France when he was 10 but did not start playing rugby for another six years. That involvement was not an easy process.

He and his mother, Kekane, had cheered for the Ivory Coast at the 1995 World Cup until countryman Max Brito was paralysed in a tackle. It would be another eight years until Dusautoir's anxious mother agreed to watch her son play.

Initially Dusautoir found his sporting thrill in judo but once rugby crossed his path, he embraced that sport. Not that he considered it would be a career as he showed by completing a chemical engineering degree.

But he persevered and made his debut for France three years ago.

Now he is leading his nation and, on a sunny Auckland day, not quite believing the tales from previous touring teams about the New Zealand winter.

"This is very nice, I thought it would be more cold," he said. "I'm sure it does get colder though."

Dusautoir played a week ago but thought he and his squad had enough gas in the tank to make a go of the tour. He discounted any talk about the All Blacks being weakened through injury. "I think when you come to a game you always play with the hope of winning and maybe it will be harder for the All Blacks without these players," he said.

"But I trust Mr Graham Henry to find other players because playing against the All Blacks is always very hard.

"We are determined to beat the All Blacks, we want to beat them not just in the World Cup. We would like to beat them in New Zealand. We know it will be very hard,we are conscious of that but we are going to try."

Dusautoir liked the overall strength in his squad. The selectors had sifted the talents of many players since the last World Cup and there was ample experience in the latest touring squad.