Ok, it’s only rugby, but Les Bleus stand to shape part of their national destiny. A simple victory against Namibia won’t do – their fans are roaring for a crushing. Pool games between top and small teams can give ideas regarding strategy: the favourites accumulate points in the beginning of the game, before thinking about the bonus point or trying to beat any billboard record. Bernard Laporte is aiming to erase the somewhat feeble image of the French team in their opening match. Eight players from the Stade Toulousain will be lined-up as the game kicks off in the Toulouse Stadium. Will this move be enough? The score against Namibia will surely influence their state of mind before they face the Irish challenge. Laporte is encouraging the competitive spirit, reminding his players their continued selection is only as sure as their last performance.

On their side, players claim their right to their locker room intimacy. Tough, exclusive broadcaster TF1 paid 440,000 euros to be allowed to sneak peek inside. Did they also ask Laporte to leave out any inappropriate rituals? Fullback Clément Poitrenaud admitted it was “too much” to read a letter written by a 16-year-old Resistance hero before his execution, denouncing Nazi Germany, before the French entered the pitch. Controversy ensued in France with editorialists condemning what they saw as an implied parallel between the Pumas and the Nazis. They also suggested Laporte was somewhat ingratiating himself to his future boss, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who decided this same letter would greet all French “lycéens”, or senior high school students, on their back-to-school day. As if it wasn’t already hard enough to deal with him after his overplayed ham commercials…

His career depends in part on tomorrow’s game, a game whose consequences go far beyond rugby.