Gatland: France Have Astonishing Depth & Shaun Edwards Can Have a Massive Impact on Argentina

Speaking exclusively to BOYLE Sports , three-time Lions coach Warren Gatland has hailed the quality and depth that make France genuine rivals to South Africa and New Zealand .

Gatland has credited Bernard Laporte with instilling the discipline that transformed France , explained why the competition behind Antoine Dupont keeps him sharp, and backed his former right-hand man Shaun Edwards to have a massive impact at Argentina .

The former coach has also explained why defence is 80 per cent about fitness, and named Dupont as the modern player he would least want to plan against.

Shaun Edwards

What Impact Can Shaun Edwards Have on Argentina?

I think it could be massive. I had Felipe Contepomi contact me about Shaun , and I said, look, I haven't worked with him for a little while, but there's no doubt that he can have an impact on a team in terms of his expectations. He's quite simple in his approach; there's nothing miraculous about it. It's about hard work; it's about improving all the time, getting better at the drills.

I'm a great believer that you can be the greatest defence coach in the world with all the structures, but fitness plays a big part. Eighty per cent of defence is about being fit, getting up off the ground quickly, chasing kicks, getting back, folding, getting to position, getting their spacing right.

Shaun will demand that. He'll demand that they're in the best shape they can be physically so that they are able to follow what he wants in terms of his defensive game plan.

France's Depth

Do France Have the Talent to Rival South Africa and New Zealand?

The quality and the depth is amazing. You look at their clubs, the crowds they're getting, the rugby they're playing. I think it started with Bernard Laporte, really. When he came in and had some success with France , the one thing he drilled into them was their discipline. They were notoriously poor with discipline, penalties, offsides, infringements, foul play. He drilled that into them, and that made a massive difference.

And then obviously physically, they're in shape. I would have coached against French teams where your plan was to play through phases, keep the ball on the park, and work hard to take the legs from their big boys.

But if they're fit and have people available, the quality and depth they have means they could be very hard to beat as well.

Does Antoine Dupont Have to Keep on His Toes?

Antoine Dupont is obviously the king, but they've got three or four other great scrum-halves like Maxime Lucu .

I think Lucu is a fantastic player. That's good as well because you want someone like Dupont having three or four people at his heels, making sure he's playing at his best.

We know when he's at his best, he's absolutely world-class, but he won't be taking anything for granted. If you're Fabien Galthie , you want as much competition as you can in certain positions and as much depth. That's one position where they're incredibly strong.

The Coach's Nightmare

Who Is the Modern Player You'd Least Want to Plan Against?

I think Dupont at his best is unbelievable in terms of the pace he's got, his footwork, and the tries he scores. Sometimes you get world-class players, and you have to have a plan around how you might defend against them.

We've done that in the past with Dupont . I remember when we were with Wasps and played Sale , we would spend the week planning and trying to defend Jason Robinson 's footwork. Something you can always say about the All Blacks is that if you've got three or four players in your team that have got X-factor, they make a difference. They win a game.

For the Lions at Eden Park , Kieran Read picks the ball up off the back of the scrum, goes to get tackled, somehow gets his hand through behind his back and offloads, and the All Blacks score.

I just remember sitting in the box going, wow, you can't do anything about that. If you've got the luxury of having three or four X-factor players in your squad, they make a massive difference.

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