Lievremont not taking Italians lightly

Watch live coverage of France v Italy in the RBS 6 Nations on Sunday, 14 March on RTÉ Two television and RTÉ.ie from 2.00pm.

Grand Slam-chasing France will not under-estimate a much-improved Italy at the Stade de France next weekend as the Six Nations resumes.

French coach Marc Lievremont has won over many of the doubters after two years of using over 70 players, but having broken his jinx of not managing three successive wins with the 26-20 defeat of Wales, he is keen to take it on and claim what would be France's first Grand Slam since 2004.

However, the 39-year-old former France flanker is wary of the threat that the Italians can pose, especially coming off a deserved victory over Scotland last time out.

'We are not taking anything for granted,' said Lievremont.

'We are extremely vigilant, we know that the match against Italy is a potential trap for us.

'We saw how hard they pushed the English (England only prevailing 17-12 in Rome). We remember also how two years ago we were snapped at all through the match at the Stade de France by the Italians.

'There will definitely be plenty of reminders about that for the squad in the week leading up to the match. France's real strength this campaign has been their scrum but they will perhaps have their greatest test against a fine Italian unit.

'The backs too may also find it more difficult to cross the tryline than their previous three matches as Italy have conceded just one try in their last two matches.'

French back-rower Imanol Harinorduquy missed training as he continues to recover from a displaced vertebra.

Harinorduquy suffered the injury while training with Biarritz on Friday and missed his side's one point defeat to Toulon on Saturday.

The 30-year-old is still with the France squad but will not be able to train until later in the week.

France have also called up scrum-half Dimitrie Yachvili, himself ruled out of the early rounds with injury, after Freddy Michalak suffered a knee ligament injury over the weekend.