THE late, great Jacques Fouroux was the epitome of the scrum-half as tactical genius, leading France to just their second Grand Slam in 1977.

After a disappointing draw to Ireland and a disastrous defeat to England, Les Bleus turn to another intellectual heavyweight to make them tick from the No 9 position.

Fit again Dimitri Yachvili gets the call to rescue France and end their season on a high by gate-crashing Wales’ Grand Slam party and making off with the champagne. One of the men charged with stopping the brains from Biarritz being able to impose his authority and vision tomorrow is his opposite number Mike Phillips.

The more combatative and physical Phillips knows how important it is to stop Yachvili making France more like the World Cup nearly men of just a few month ago.

“He’s a very good player isn’t he?” 29-year-old Bayonne scrum-half Phillips said. “He’s experienced and I’ve played against him a few times.

“Whenever he seems to play, whatever team he’s in, they play well, so it’s a sign of a good player really. France have got world class players and they’ve brought Yachvili in now. With his kicking game, he likes to control things.

“He’s a very clever player and they will look to him to control things.

“Hopefully we can frustrate and annoy him.”