Jo Maso Cup Quotations

Frederic has been in pain for a month but he has played very good games with Toulouse in the Heineken Cup and the French championship and we are confident he will be at his best.

To go out as captain of the side that won the World Cup showed his real worth as a player, and he was respected by everyone in France.

That was our main objective because the 2007 World Cup will be played in France and we want to keep our home advantage inviolate until the final.

We are of course sorry for Thomas because he made a great comeback in November but he pulled a thigh muscle on Saturday in the Heineken Cup match against Biarritz. We talked to him this morning and he told us he should be fit again in two weeks.

Defeating Ireland is no mean thing. The main thing was to win. It's our first match at home this season and we said we wanted to stay unbeaten at home until the 2007 World Cup which will be played in France. We are still on course.

The return of Fabien is pure logic. He's our captain and he proved with Toulouse in the Heineken Cup that he was fully fit.