Former All Blacks star Justin Marshall has unleashed yet another attack on France following their defeat to the Springboks in the end-of-year series.
Forget doubling down, the 52-year-old has effectively tripled down on his criticism of the French, which started during the July Tests against the All Blacks.
Les Bleus sent a second-string outfit down to New Zealand, which Marshall described as being “disrespectful”.
French supporters hit back but the ex-scrum-half refused to back down and instead reiterated his point the following week.
Marshall’s criticism in July
“For a very long period of time the French have been disrespecting the international window,” he said on the GBRANZ podcast earlier this year.
“They are not bringing their best players on tours, which is not respectful for our country because we want to see their best players playing here.
“They overemphasise their club situation over there, and the players play too many minutes.
“They say: ‘Players have just played a final, we’ve played too many minutes’. Sure, but that’s because you have got your window for the entire calendar year out of kilter because you now don’t have the ability to let those international players play international rugby because you’re not resting them at the right times of the year.
“You’re disrespecting the window that everybody else buys into. Everybody else in the world does not send ‘B’ teams out; they send their top players to their tours.”
A few months on from those three defeats to the All Blacks and Fabien Galthie’s men suffered a fourth Test loss in a row in their November opener against South Africa.
That prompted Marshall to have another rant on GBRANZ, stating that they could pay the price for their approach to the international game.
France plummeting’
“Can I please just say to those keyboard warriors, the Frenchies out there who love me so much, particularly in the middle part of the year, you reap what you sow,” he said.
“All of a sudden, you send a B team out to New Zealand, and yes it was a B team because it was nothing like the team that you put out at the weekend – the superstars were all back.
“You lost three Test matches there, now you’ve lost the fourth on the bounce, and you’re plummeting down the world rankings.
“In December, the World Cup draw comes out so, all of a sudden, instead of you being able to be one or two in the world and you can get the pick of the pools, and perhaps get a couple of minnows in your group, you might find yourself in the situation where you’re going into the pool of death.
“At your peril, do you not respect the international rugby window because it affects your world ranking.”
Following those comments, host Andy Rowe quipped that “Marshy has finished the podcast with a scathing attack on French rugby,” but the former All Black could well be proven right should Galthie’s outfit continue to falter.
The top-six teams in the World Rugby rankings will be the first seeds for the draw and at the moment fifth-placed France have a five-point cushion over the Wallabies in seventh.
However, defeats to Fiji and the all-important clash with Australia on November 22 could see them drop further down the rankings and impact their World Cup chances.