Angry Laporte sharpens his axe

After last season's serenity, Bernard Laporte is beginning to sound like any other coach of France – tormented and exasperated.

Les Bleus, following an impressive Grand Slam, have faded to pale blue, prompting Laporte to turn on his players. "I don't like liars and people who cheat on their team-mates,'' he said. "They should have respect for one another, but there has been none. They train like donkeys, laze around, then give away penalties. We will never win the World Cup with this team.''

One of Laporte's achievements since taking over in 1999 has been to instil discipline into a squad who were notoriously fickle. Bad habits, however, have resurfaced as France lost to England at Twickenham and to Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

Against Italy in Rome today they try a third stand-off, Frédéric Michalak, with the former Gloucester scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili taking over the goal-kicking role. In spite of Laporte's outcry, the principal casualties of a poor campaign have been the No 10s Gérald Merceron and Fran-çois Gelez, who were more miss than hit against England and Ireland.

Two of the players singled out for criticism, the prop Jean-Jacques Crenca and the flanker Serge Betsen, are retained. "Betsen makes 15 mistakes a match,'' Laporte said. "We have lost two games because of poor discipline.''

Betsen, who subdued Jonny Wilkinson when France beat England in the decisive engagement of last season's Six Nations, was his country's top tackler against Ireland two weeks ago. Strangely, Raphael Ibañez, who did more to undermine France's effort in Dublin than anybody else, escapes. "Apart from Fabien Pelous, who I would compare with Martin Johnson, how many players do we have who could be called the best in the world? Nobody,'' Laporte said. "They read and believe their own press too much. We don't have a Wilkinson or a Larkham."

Not exactly a vote of confidence for Michalak, who wins his seventh cap, all but two of them earned at scrum-half. Laporte delayed naming his side after half-a-dozen players were hit by a gastric flu bug. They included Thomas Castaignède, who has been recalled at centre with Xavier Garbajosa moving to the wing. There is no doubt that France have missed the South African-born prop Pieter de Villiers, omitted from the championship after failing a drugs test, and the New Zealand-born centre Tony Marsh, who is recovering from an operation.

Italy will miss the injured Mauro Bergamasco – his younger brother, Mirco, is again at full-back, and, more importantly Diego Dom-inguez, the longest-serving occupant at No 10 since Pitt the Younger, who pulled out with flu yesterday. The withdrawal of Dominguez the elder – the little stand-off will be 37 next month – will be keenly felt; he is second only to Neil Jenkins as a points-scorer in international rugby. He is replaced by Rotherham's Ramiro Pez, who took over the kicking duties at Twickenham.

If the French forwards are not as one, they could be pushed to the limit by Italy, who emerged from Twickenham with their reputation enhanced, despite a 40-5 defeat. "We showed we can be genuinely competitive,'' John Kirwan, the coach of Italy, said. "Now we've got to do it for 80 minutes. Our performance against England has given us a lot of confidence. Clive Woodward popped his head round the dressing-room door and complimented us on how well we had played. People are starting to understand our willingness to play the game at the highest level.''

Unfortunately, not enough of them were in Rome, where there were empty seats at the Stadio Flaminio for Italy's sensational opener against Wales. "We could take the odd Test to another part of the country,'' Kirwan said, "but I'm hoping for a full house against France. Rome is a great venue for obvious reasons. Our part in the deal is that we have to play well. I'm not saying we're going to win, but France are under pressure.''

Indeed, according to Laporte, if the French don't distinguish themselves, the guillotine will fall. "I'm hoping the pack will rediscover their pride. They have another chance. If they fail again, I'll take the necessary measures.''