Defeats to England and Ireland dashed French hopes of successfully defending their title and also pushed out their odds for the World Cup in Australia in October.

"We have to not only know why we win, but also why we lose," Laporte told a press conference in Paris after announcing he was delaying the announcement of his squad forthe match against Italy in Rome by 24 hours because of sickness and injury.

"After the match against Ireland we watched the video again and discussed a lot. We must use that defeat to keep going.

"We have only four matches left before the World Cup and with the absence (through injury and suspension) of key players such as Fabien Galthie, Tony Marsh and Pieter de Villiers, we will try other players."

One youngster hoping to enhance his prospects is Stade Toulousain fly-half Frederic Michalak, who is expected to be named in the starting line-up even though he has not been with the France squad since their 33-12 win over Italy just over a year ago.

"The delay in the team announcement did not disturb me," he said. "But this match would be special for me.

"It was against Italy that I played my last game in the blue shirt and also because this is a great opportunity for me to show my qualities ahead of the World Cup.

"However, I am not putting too much pressure on myself. I am not obsessed by it. I want to be at the team's disposal first."