France’s coach surprises no one: “We don’t like the English”

Ahead of this weekend’s Six Nations rugby decider between England and France at London’s Twickenham Stadium, did anyone really think it was necessary for someone to remind the world that the English don’t get along too well with their neighbors from across La Manche?

After all, there was the little matter of the Hundred Years War. Yes, that’s right: a war that lasted 100 years. It’s a rivalry that goes back more than 1,000 years ever since William the Conqueror sailed across from Normandy and, well … conquered.

That Norman invasion in 1066 was what gave rise to the saying that it is the winners who write history. It was only long after his invasion of England that William I became known as “the Conqueror” among the English. Because beforehand, the Duke of Normandy was more usually referred to by his less flattering, yet entirely accurate, nickname of “William the Bastard.”

And so a millennium-long feud has continued, with victories for either side down the years, through Agincourt and Henry V, which sees Frenchmen visiting London having to endure the embarrassment of travelling via a railway station called “Waterloo,” after the battle where Napoleon was finally defeated, or seeing the sights in Trafalgar Square, taking its name from the greatest naval defeat inflicted on France.

Fortunately, much of the rivalry between Les Rosbifs and the “Cheese-eating surrender monkeys” (copyright George W Bush 2001) has in more recent years been restricted to the sports field, with the only blood spilt being through minor injury.

And it is always a bit special when France and England, Europe’s two dominant rugby forces, go head-to-head.

But expect there to be even more edge on Saturday, after France coach Marc Lievremont declared today: “We don’t like the English.”

England and France both go in to their third game of this year’s Six Nations unbeaten after their first two games.

But as if there was not already enough at stake, Lievremont said: “We don’t like them and it’s better to say that than be hypocritical. We have a bit of trouble with the English. We respect them — well in my case at least I respect them. But you couldn’t say we have the slightest thing in common with them. We appreciate our Italian cousins with whom we share the same quality of life.

“We appreciate the Celts and their conviviality and then among all these nations we have one huge thing in common. We all don’t like the English,” he continued. “We beat Ireland yet left Dublin with the encouragement of all the Irish who said ‘for pity’s sake, beat the English’.

“With the Scots, it’s the same thing. It is also what gives you strength against the English, more than just because of rugby. This insular country, who always drape themselves in the national flag, their hymns, their chants, their traditions. They are people who one regards as a very proud people.

“But we are also very aware, in terms of planning and preparation, that the English are already in 2011 World Cup mode. We can feel that all of the English players are physically on a different level.”

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