Rugby: Saint Andre in struggle to lift modest French

Philippe Saint-Andre. Photo / Getty Images

Nicknamed Piglet for his skittery running style, Philippe Saint-André is best known here as captain of the only French team to win a test series on New Zealand soil.

Mistakenly billed as a warm-up act before the first post-apartheid Springbok tour, Les Bleus beat the All Blacks 2-0 in 1994, winning the second test with what came to be known in France as "the try from the end of the world". Down 20-16 with just three minutes remaining, Saint-André fielded a kick in his own 22 and ran the ball back, sparking a counter-attack that ended with Jean-Luc Sadourny scoring at the other end of the park.

As coach, Saint-André has also made history but not in the same way. After mixed results in his first Six Nations in 2012 (two wins, two losses and a draw) and last year's tour of Argentina (won one, lost one) followed by encouraging victories against Australia, Argentina and Samoa at home in November, France won only one game and finished last in 2013, Six Nations wooden spooners for the first time.

Traditionally considered one of the big five, they have now slipped to sixth place in the IRB rankings behind Wales. Under fire, the coach complained of the difficulties he had getting access to players to prepare for the tournament because the clubs wouldn't release them - and the large number of foreigners in the Top 14.

Mourad Boudjellal, president of Toulon and Saint-André's former boss, responded sharply, labelling his ex-coach "a whinger" and saying there was plenty of talent around - the real problem was with the coaching. He also made the point that the French had come within a whisker of winning the last World Cup, so the system couldn't be that bad.

It is a fair point - although France would not have made it out of the pool stages if Tonga had not suffered an upset loss to Canada, so perhaps the system is not totally foolproof.

At the 2011 World Cup, Saint-André's predecessor Marc Lievremont appeared to be operating in chaos, sporting an Inspector Clouseau moustache, ripping up coaching manuals and telling his team - via the press - that they were "spoilt brats" while making some eye-watering decisions.

For all that, France did emerge in V-shaped formation for the final and proceeded to scare hell out of the whole of New Zealand for 80 minutes.

Lievremont managed to get under the skin of his players and wind them up to a peak when it mattered, but whether that was all part of a cunning plan or just a last desperate roll of the dice is a tough call.

In any case, you can't build a team solely around emotion and decent foundations had already been laid - France drew the 2009 series 1-1 in New Zealand and won the Dave Gallaher trophy for the first time, another result from the Lievremont era that isn't easy to live up to for Saint-André. When a journalist suggested he must be aiming to win at least one test match this time round, Saint-André smiled, shuffled sideways and waffled about being on "a pathway to progress", the importance of his team's etat d'esprit and the difficulty of playing against the best in the world.

Former French centre and now manager of Dax, Richard Dourthe says that while there has to be a question mark over Saint-André, he's in no danger of losing his job - not least because he is adept at managing expectations and there are no plausible candidates to take his place.

"He's a smart guy, he's got two good assistants in Yannick Bru and Patrice Lagisquet and he knows how to play the media. He's been talking about building a team since he first got there but every time France lose, he says they have to start all over again. That can't last forever.

"You can always find an excuse - there are plenty of reasons for not winning this game or that game and he won't be under any pressure if he loses against the All Blacks in New Zealand. That said, I don't know what his vision for the future is."

The clock is ticking.