France squad could be best ever as Laurent Frayssinous targets history

Josh McAllister 11 Oct 2022 3:02 PM

France head coach Laurent Frayssinous believes his current squad could be the best national side ever as he aims to make history on the international stage.

The likes of Super League’s Samisoni Langi, Fouad Yaha and Arthur Mourgue have been included, while Ben Garcia will lead the nation as captain.

France will feature in Group A of the Men’s tournament, competing with England, Greece and Samoa. And Frayssinous believes his selected 24-man squad is one of the strongest the nation has ever seen.

“Even if we miss the experience from Theo Fages, Julian Bousquet and Romain Navarrete, I think this squad is the best for years, maybe even the best French team we’ve ever had,” Frayssinous told Love Rugby League.

“They’re all full-time and play against the best in Super League for the last few years. It’s great to coach these great players. All together, we want to win and improve.

“We’ve been excited for the last few months already. We want to keep on building and lay the platform for the future.”

Laurent Frayssinous eyeing up history

The newly appointed St Helens assistant coach is targeting history with his national side. France open their World Cup campaign in Doncaster against Greece before facing England in Bolton and Samoa in Warrington.

“As a French team, we are pretty humble,” Frayssinous said.

“We know where we are. We know England are a great team and Samoa have a lot of NRL superstars.

“What we want to do at some point is make history for France. That will start with Greece, because they will be a tough test.

“On the back of that, we haven’t made history for the last 32 years; the last time France beat Great Britain was in 1990.

“At some point, we want to make history, whether it be in this World Cup, next year or in 2025. That’s why we’re building and working very hard.”

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Laurent Frayssinous eyeing up history

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