François Trinh-Duc has been left out of coach Phillipe Saint-Andre’s squad for France’s 2015 World Cup campaign.
The 28-year-old fly-half, who started the 2011 Final against New Zealand, has been dropped in favour of veteran Frederic Michalak, who orchestrated the 25-20 victory over England, and Remi Talès.
The unpredictable Michalak will head into his third World Cup as France’s all-time leading points scorer following his 17-point haul against England and it is his efficiency with the boot which has secured his place according to Saint-Andre.
“We wanted to include three top goal-kickers and they were Michalak, Parra and Rory Kockott.
Trinh-Duc has worked hard on that aspect of his game, but in the end Michalak and Talès have been with the group more often than him and Talès is solid defensively”.
Trinh-Duc had been praised after the first warm-up at Twickenham by Saint-Andre following a strong performance, although crucially Morgan Parra held the kicking duties that day.
A week later at the Stade de France, Michalak took charge of both the kicking responsibilities and the match, finishing with five penalties and a conversion as well as setting up Yoann Huget’s try.
And taking charge of the fly-half spot would be a blessing to France for the 10 shirt has become a conundrum in recent years.
In Phillipe Saint-Andre’s first 33 tests as the coach, he used 14 different half-back partnerships. He has used four different fly-halfs in the last four tests.
Saint-Andre has allowed the fly-half berth to become a series of experiments with selection simply a roll of a dice.
Michalak has often been the most frustrating of all these experiments. The 32-year-old has an abundance of enigmatic talent but has lacked the consistency and discipline to put it into place.
In the 2013 Six Nations, he was the pantomime villain as his erratic nature let him down as France had the unenviable honour of the Wooden Spoon.
But in the victory over England, Michalak showed a level of game-management which vindicated the faith Saint-Andre has kept in him.
And former Wales forward and BBC commentator Eddie Butler, writing for the Guardian, believes Michalak has done enough to cement his place as first-choice fly-half for the World Cup.
“Frederic Michalak proved that, 14 years after first playing for his country, he has learnt how to control a game. He played with intelligence and yet with daring, with serious application but also with cheek.Of course, it was easier for him behind a pack that won all the big collisions, but the problem of the 10 shirt has dogged France for so long that to have found an answer in flaky Freddy was reward enough on this night”.
In addition to Trinh-Duc, Xavier Chiocci, Sébastian Vahaamahina, Loann Goujon and Rémi Lamérat also miss the cut.
The French will welcome Scotland to a final warm-up at Stade de France on 5 September before taking on Italy in their opening match of the World Cup at Twickenham on 19 September.
