France relish Euro Cup - Goulding

Thursday 11th March 2010

French coach Bobbie Goulding says his squad are relishing the prospect of playing in the 2010 rugbyleague.com Europen Cup.

Goulding, who took charge of France in 2009 and guided the Tricolors through last year's Gillette Four Nations, says he is very optimistic about France's prospects in the tournament which is a round-robin format and includes Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

"There's no doubt it'll be a tough competition but we'll go into it with confidence", Goulding told rugbyleague.com.

"I feel if we can build on the performances we produced in the Four Nations last season and take those into this year's European Cup then we'll have a great chance of doing very well".

"Since I became involved, we've always had a great response from the players in the French squad and we‘ll be looking to go onwards and upwards in 2010.  We are already looking forward to the whole international campaign this year".

And the former Great Britain and England half-back has outlined some of his plans for France's build-up to their games this season, which start with the mid-season Test against England at Leigh Sporting Village on June 12th (ko 5.15pm).

As well as continuing to monitor Catalans Dragons' games in Engage Super League , Goulding has revealed he will watch every team in France's Elite One from now until the competition's climax in late May as part of his selection process. He will begin this weekend by attending the Limoux v Carcassonne fixture after seeing the Catalans face Castleford Tigers in Perpignan.

After the weekend's matches, Goulding will then meet with French Rugby League Federation officials in Toulouse on Monday to finalise and agree France's training schedule and plans. These will include regular squad meetings and sessions throughout the season. 

Goulding hinted that he will look at Catalans Dragons young players such as Tony Gigot and William Barthau as well as the cream of the Elite One competition when considering the overall make-up of his squad.

He also spoke to rugbyleague.com about recent claims by former England coach Phil Larder that France are too weak to provide useful opposition for the England team and that the mid-season Test should be replaced by a fixture against a Super League Australian side.

"It's not an argument I want to get into but I was surprised that somebody who hasn't been directly involved in Rugby League for a decade has made those kind of comments", said Goulding.

"We clearly showed we were credible opposition for England in last year's Four Nations and we believe we are building and improving all the time. We are finalising our plans for 2010 and we feel we can be a major part of Rugby League in Europe".

"The RFL recognise this and they understand the need for France to keep playing against the top nations. They are working with us on some of our development projects which are important for the sport internationally".