Just as was the case at Sale, Saint-Andre’s team dominate up front and as French history dictates, they are not afraid to throw the ball around when the opportunity arises.

On the back of three autumn wins against Australia, Argentina and Samoa, Les Bleus are many bookies’ favourites for this year’s RBS 6 Nations but after last year’s sub-standard performance saw them finish fourth, Saint-Andre urges more than a note of caution.

And while his front eight and back five are taking shape, it is the half-backs where his side could come unstuck.

Back in the side after an extended absence, Frederic Michalak is strutting his stuff at fly-half and appears to have added substance to his style at the age of 30.

But he doesn’t even play there for his club, Toulon. Their number ten shirt is occupied by Jonny Wilkinson, one of many overseas fly-halves in the Top 14.

Morgan Parra and Maxime Machenaud will battle it out for the No.9 jersey just as they did in the autumn and Saint-Andre hopes that consistency of selection will see his half-backs flourish.

“In November I picked Michalak at fly-half but he’s playing scrum-half for Toulon, the fly-half is Jonny Wilkinson,” said Saint-Andre.

“The fly-half of Perpignan is [James] Hook, the fly-half of Stade Francais is Felipe Contepomi, the fly-half of Toulouse is Luke McAlister, the fly-half at Clermont is Brock James, so I need to find a fly-half!

“But we want consistency in the French team. We want to try and put some players in place and try and have the same squad and in November it was Parra and Machenaud at scrum-half and [Francois] Trinh-Duc and Michalak and in the Six Nations it will be the same four with us.

“In French rugby the boss is usually the scrum-half, he leads the forwards and sometimes he calls the lineout and very often he is captain.

“And fly-half, each time France loses a game, you sack the fly-half but this is for 100 years. Morgan (Parra), Freddie (Michalak) they started at fly-half when they were young but when they turned professional they moved to scrum-half.

“We need to find some fly-halves. We need the culture to change and realise that it’s not always the fault of the fly-half.

"If you look at England and New Zealand they keep the fly-half and the scrum-half changes a lot. But we are French and we do things a different way."

Saint-Andre was also quick to dismiss the idea of his side as tournament favourites, claiming that having three games on the road means they cannot be labelled with that tag.

But he does hope to continue his side’s consistency, starting with their opening match against Italy on Sunday.

“I don’t agree with us being favourites, we play three games away and two at home so I think the favourites are whoever players three games at home,” he added.

“After that we are outsiders and we are pleased about this.

“November was a good month for us, we won three games, but the Six Nations is a different story. When you speak to the players from elsewhere they are all in camp but ours are still playing matches, it’s not easy.

“So our focus is the next match against Italy, we want to improve because last year was a very, very disappointing Six Nations for us.

“I think Italy and Scotland can beat any team and the other four can win the Grand Slam, if you don’t respect one team you will fail.”