With only nine months left until the showpiece begins, Laporte is looking to finalise the group and he will be hoping the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championship provides him with some clues.

The 40-man squad for the Six Nations was revealed yesterday, with four uncapped players making it into the party.

Those not selected - except for Frederic Michalak, the mercurial fly-half who is currently out injured - will struggle to make France's 30-man World Cup party.

And Laporte acknowledged there was not much time left to impress him and his backroom staff.

If you take the squad of 40 that has been announced, and add some names we have mentioned in private, we are not far from the France team, at this moment in time, he said.

It is a base we are working from.

The door is not closed to anybody. But with the 20 players who are certainties - save for unexpected hiccups - to figure on the list of 30 (for the World Cup), there aren't many opportunities left.