Rugby: Young coach leading French resistance

Marc Lievremont was a shock replacement for long-serving French coach Bernard Laporte. Photo / Getty Images

He looks like he could be answer to New Zealand rugby's problem on the openside flank.

Sitting serenely at press conferences during France's two-week visit to New Zealand, it's easy to mistake Marc Lievremont as a player.

The former test loose forward is happy garbed in a track suit or snug T-shirt, highlighting a physique to put your average 40-year-old to shame.

For a man who forged a career in the dark arts of French forward play, there is a lack of scarred features on the chiselled visage.

Even more surprising is the relaxed demeanour, which defies an increasing pressure from home to succeed after 18 months of moderate results by French standards.

Since his shock naming as replacement for the long-serving Bernard Laporte post the 2007 World Cup, Lievremont has come under fire for what many believe is an unseemly haste to revert to running rugby.

Also, his constant selection experiments with the 2011 World Cup in mind have been described as random and needless.

Last year he used 57 players and even this week made three starting changes, all on form, despite Les Bleus comprehensively outplaying the All Blacks in last Saturday's 27-22 first test win.

With just two third placings in the Six Nations to show for his efforts - France had won the previous two under Laporte - the Carisbrook triumph has silenced Lievremont's detractors but the volume will be pumped back up with a major reversal in Wellington.

For a rugby tradesman, it has been a rapid climb into the hot seat of French rugby.

Born in Senegal while his father served as a commando in the Foreign Legion, Lievremont is the eldest of seven children, all of whom have a close rugby association.

Thomas and Mathieu have both played for France and are coach and captain respectively at Top 14 club Dax; twins Pierre and Luc play for Castanet in the fourth division; Francois was a fullback for Perpignan while Vincent turned out at lower levels. Their only sister, Claire, won a semi-professional league title.

Veteran hooker Raphael Ibanez believes Lievremont had a major influence on his siblings.

"I think Marc took a father's role with his brothers," says the former French captain and teammate of Lievremont's.

"As a dad you can't shout all the time or they won't listen and, anyway, he tends to control his emotions."

An unobtrusive but uncompromising No 8 or blindside flanker, Lievremont played the first of his 25 tests in 1995. The last was the World Cup final loss to Australia four years later.

His career highlight came a week earlier. A vivid memory of the semifinal upset defeat of the All Blacks at Twickenham was swapping jerseys afterwards with Josh Kronfeld, the former flanker who he hugely admired.

After winning the French championship twice, Lievremont finished his career as a player with Stade Francais in 2002.

Adapting quickly to life as a coach, he guided Dax to promotion to the Top 14.

That was enough to convince outgoing French Federation boss Bernard Lapasset to hand him the national job ahead of a swag of more fancied contenders, such as veteran Toulouse mentor Guy Noves and former internationals Philippe Saint-Andre and Fabien Galthie.

Former test great and chairman of the French clubs Serge Blanco was outspoken that Lapasset had chosen the wrong man and Lievremont later admitted he had considered turning the offer down.

From the outset, he was determined to move away from the autocratic Laporte formula.

"I'm not a networker, I still look at things from the perspective of the player," he recently said.

"I don't have the soul of a manager. I'm not going to give lectures. I will coach like I would like to have been coached."

He selected two other relative youngsters as his assistants, Didier Retiere and former test winger Emile Ntamack, that pair having coached the France under-20 team to junior World Cup success in 2006.

Immediately they began unbuckling the straitjacket style of Laporte, encouraging a swag of new players to express themselves with traditional French flair.

His inspiration, ironically, is the All Blacks.

Even though their fast-paced style has failed at recent World Cups, Lievremont reckons it holds better long-term prospects than the pragmatic style of the last two champions - England and South Africa.

"I am convinced that the manner in which New Zealand play can win out in the end," he says.

"It is not a question of copying things, but to impose a game that is suitable for France.

"For me, New Zealand rugby is the perfect blend between the pragmatism of the Pakeha and the creative spark of the Islanders.

"The rugby is more representative of New Zealand's cultural melting pot than what you'll find in Australia or South Africa.

"What makes the rugby work is that they can find perfection by doing the simple things very well - the quality of their off-loading and the efficiency of their recycling game."

Only a third of Laporte's World Cup squad was named in Lievremont's first group, with the captaincy going to lock Lionel Nallet, a player previously on the outer.

The passionate French club versus country battleground is one he is still adjusting to.

A massive influx of foreign players into the wealthy Top 14 competition is narrowing his options while his time with the national squad is severely limited.

"I envy the amount of preparation time at the disposal of the likes of Graham Henry," he said.

"But I must work with what I have at my disposal because everybody has problems in their own back yard.

"From what I can see, the standard of rugby in the Super 14 is far from exceptional."

As Henry and his colleagues might say: Touche.

- NZPA