By Rex Gowar
AUCH, France, Oct 17 (Reuters) - France aim to put upstarts Italy in their place in their opening Latin Cup rugby union match on Saturday -- the sides' first clash since the Italians upset their French neighbours in March.
The match is preceded by the tournament's opening game between Argentina and Romania.
Holders France will be far stronger than the depleted side that faced Italy in Grenoble a week after clinching the Five Nations championship in Paris.
All but five players remain including Philippe Saint-Andre, who made a tenative return from injury although not as captain.
France believe they have a new professional outlook embodied by their now England-based captain Saint-Andre, fly-half Thierry Lacroix and flanker Laurent Cabannes, who all helped France reach the semifinals of the 1995 World Cup.
In fact the side the French selectors have picked includes eight players who narrowly lost the 1995 World Cup semifinal to South Africa in Durban.
``The three English ... have at least had the advantage of making French rugby advance on the theme of professionalism,'' team manager Jo Maso said.
He said that before the meeting with Italy in March, ``we had four days to regroup and at the final count there were 12 (players) injured before the match and a defeat afterwards.''
``Professionalism also means the players train daily. The days when the village firemen went to the match are over,'' Maso said.
``The result is that when we prepare for a tournament, like now, we have no-one injured even while demanding two daily training sessions, because the players respond physically.''
Assitant coach Pierre Villepreux said the theme of the French, looking to become fully competitive with the southern hemisphere nations, was ``play, play and play while enjoying it, because afterwards there are the Springboks and the Five Nations.''
France, who have lost three of their last four matches including two tests on tour in Australia in June, meet South Africa in a home series next month.
Italy will be just as fired up, their dream of inclusion in an expanded Six Nations tournament still unfulfilled despite their international progress. They also beat Ireland last season and ran both Scotland and Wales close.
Their French coach Georges Coste said: ``This France is a very strong formation, the second best in the world after New Zealand.
``It's an honour for Italy to face them and we will try to honour this very difficult commitment with the game we know best how to play. We must confirm our progress but a defeat would not be a step backwards.''
Italy have made only three changes to the side that beat France 40-32, with Massimo Ravazzolo coming in at full-back, the introduction of newcomer Cristian Stoica for only his second cap at centre and Carlo Checchinato replacing Julian Gardner in the back row.
Teams:
France: 15-Jean-Luc Sadourny; 14-Laurent Leflamand, 13-Thomas Castaignede, 12-Christophe Lamaison, 11-Philippe Saint-Andre (captain); 10-Thierry Lacroix, 9-Fabien Galthie; 8-Fabien Pelous, 7-Laurent Cabannes, 6-Abdelatif Benazzi, 5-Olivier Merle, 4-Olivier Brouzet, 3-Christian Califano, 2-Marc Dal Maso, 1-Franck Tournaire.
Italy: 15-Massimo Ravazzolo; 14-Paolo Vaccari, 13-Cristian Stoica, 12-Ivan Francescato, 11-Marcello Cuttitta; 10-Diego Dominguez, 9-Alessandro Troncon; 8-Carlo Checchinato, 7-Andrea Sgorlon, 6-Massimo Giovanelli (captain), 5-Walter Cristofoletto, 4-Gianbattista Croci, 3-Franco Properzi, 2-Carlo Orlandi, 1-Massimo Cuttitta.
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