Raphael Ibanez Quotations

Both Olivier and myself will concentrate on our role and try to bring our experience to rediscover a certain collective energy. We are not here to give any lessons but we know we missed out on our match with Scotland and that the expectations will be very high on Saturday.

We were really focused on the beginning of the game and when you start well it brings big confidence to the team. We had this feeling after 25 minutes that the English team were short of solutions and options. This was exactly what we wanted.

It's a highly motivated England team that will come to Paris. I think that this time their motivation is not against France. They are furious with themselves and it will make them even more dangerous, but we are not going to stand by and pay the price for their defeat in Edinburgh.

It's a highly motivated England team that will come to Paris.

They are men of character. I find their confrontation very funny, but maybe I'm the only one to think so.

The coaches told me that they knew they had a good guy in me, that they knew what I had to offer and that they would probably be back in touch for the November Tests. November . . . I felt my blood rising. What was I doing there, then ? But I kept cool. Sure, I understood the thinking but I did not agree. And that was that.