Les Bleus Miserables

At the end of last November, France had clearly ensconced itself as the number 2 team in world rugby behind the All Blacks. They had just thumped the Wallabies and beaten Argentina and Samoa fairly comfortably.

By all accounts, it was a performance worthy of Six Nations Championship favourites.

Heading into the middle of February, France are sitting rock bottom of the Six Nations standings with 2 losses from 2 games against 2 of rugby's least in-form sides - an Italy side that were never going to be real contenders for the championship, and a Welsh side that hadn't won a game in a year prior to the weekend.

As the 2nd best team in world rugby, France should have won those games and be firmly in control of the Six Nations which they would win and head into their test series and World Cup Final rematch against the All Blacks, ready to show that their performance that October night in Auckland was not a fluke, and that the French are ready to be a consistent force in world rugby.

However, one must remember that we're talking about the French - the most mercurial and moody side in world rugby. The French have always had the habit of looking so bad in the last 3 games, and then play the best rugby you've ever seen in the game that seems to matter to the opposition - 1999 Rugby World Cup semifinal, 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal, 2011 Rugby World Cup final, anyone?

Thus, the English will be on extremely high alert when the French come to Twickenham in two weeks time - depending on the result of their game against Ireland in Dublin, this game would be the next big step in England winning their first Grand Slam in 10 years.

The likes of Bastareud, Dusautoir and Szarzewski will return to the Top 14 pondering what has gone wrong to the French juggernaut that looked so impressive in the autumn, and be out to answer the critics from local and foreign media with a display to help avoid the wooden spoon at least.

Philippe Saint-Andre has winning pedigree at Sale Sharks and Toulon

There is no doubt the French still have a great team with a great coach in Philippe Saint-Andre even if they have quite a few new names in the squad at the moment - there is plenty of talent in the Top 14. However, it is clear they not only underestimated the Italians and Welsh but were almost disinterested in playing them. At the same time, the Italians and Welsh realised they needed to be far more defensive and quite negative to have any chance against the flair of the French which has been evident this autumn. That they did to great effect - in fact the Welsh game was quite possibly the worst game of international rugby seen in a long time - and while the French forwards were at their usual best, the backs haven't really fired.

Michalak must shoulder more of the responsibility as the most senior back in the team

Freddy Michalak has slotted straight into the French national side after several years playing for the Sharks. Michalak as a player epitomises the mercurial nature of French rugby. There is no doubt Freddy has the talent but he's never had the consistency to really push the likes of Carter and Wilkinson and be the best flyhalf. And in what is really the autumn of his career, nearly 10 years after electrifying world rugby at  the World Cup in Australia, is Michalak really the right man to lead the French backs?

All Blacks fans would much rather see a strong French side even if we love to beat them - we have seen too many lacklustre games where the French have fielded their B team and be thrashed by the All Blacks. Thus, it would be good to see the French lift their game and finish the championship strongly even if their title aspirations are almost at an end for another year.