Les Bleus powered to the Grand Slam last year as they extended their winning Test run to eight matches.

They then added a ninth consecutive victory by beating Australia 27-14 in the first of their November Tests, but their form suddenly deserted them as they then lost to Argentina and New Zealand.

Those losses, particularly the 45-6 hammering by the All Blacks, provided a reality check for the French as they looked to build a winning momentum towards the 2007 World Cup.

Captain Fabien Pelous is expecting the return to action to be tough but insists his squad are keen to learn from where things went wrong in November.

The 31-year-old Stade Toulousain lock, France's most-capped player after making 96 appearances, said: "It's been a year and a half since we found ourselves in such a situation - having suffered two severe defeats, including a thrashing.

"We are going to see what happens and how we will all cope with this new situation. I remain convinced that we must keep looking ahead while trying to forget about it in the long term.

"It's good to remember the defeat (to New Zealand) and remember what went wrong. It's instructive but in the short term it's better to sweep it away from our memories.

"We must work and again become the team who beat Australia at the start of November."

Before their November setbacks, France had found the consistency which eluded them in previous years - but those defeats have once again seen questions asked about their durability.

Pelous wants to prove the doubters wrong and get back to winning games regularly - something he feels the French have not always had the mentality to do in the past.

He said: "We'd always been the outsiders because we are not the best team in the world. We achieve great things from time to time, but there is no regularity.

"I don't think the French have that mentality, and we also play a lot with our respective clubs - which is not the case for the southern-hemisphere clubs, who have more time to dedicate to their national team.

"In the Latin spirit, a one-off achievement is considered better than consistency in efforts and results.

"The ideal would be to find the right balance between regularity and achievements. If I could win all my matches by 20 points and with style it would be perfect. Of course, this is pure utopia - but we can still try."