France are ‘like watching clowns at the circus’, says Guscott

Former England centre Jeremy Guscott has hit out at the France rugby team, saying watching them is “like watching clowns at the circus”.

“I sat in the Stade de France during the 30-10 win over Italy two weeks ago and I was gobsmacked at France’s tactics,” Guscott said.

“It was a case of, ‘Let the forwards stick it up their jumpers and try to bully and smash their way through’. It was lacklustre and unimaginative in every single way.

“The French attacking line was just so flat against Italy and so laboured as they lost 27-6 to Wales. So laboured, in fact, that the couple of scoring opportunities they had, they couldn’t finish.”

“What saddens me is that their players don’t seem to have a voice. I cannot begin to understand how the likes of Hugo Bonneval, Yoann Huget and Wesley Fofana are happy to play in this restrictive, boring, low-risk manner.

“France head coach Philippe Saint-Andre likes big, strong teams that smash it up front. Given the exciting France team he played in, that’s slightly weird.”