Parra looks for confidence-boost against England

Scrum-half Morgan Parra said the objective was to boost his and France's confidence in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup in the first of two warm-up games against England Saturday.

The French are currently training in the small town of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans in the Pyrenees following camps in Marcoussis, south of Paris, and in Tignes in the French Alps.

The 26-year-old Parra has 59 caps, helping France to a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2010 and playing in the 2011 World Cup, but has been hampered by injuries which have resulted in the Clermont player being less a team regular over the past three years.

"The truth is that I've had good performances, and less good, complicated years and others less complicated with Clermont, and injuries. The same with the France team," explained Parra, who won his first cap in 2008.

Despite his age, Parra has found himself among the senior team members sharing his experiences with the newcomers, a role he sometimes questions.

"Am I legitimate? Is it up to me to talk when I don't have absolute confidence and I don't play the whole time?" he asks.
Parra missed part of the Six Nations, where France achieved just two wins, with a ruptured ligament, but is now back in form and does not rule out competing in four World Cups.

"Without waffling, I'm already trying to project myself onto that and if I have the chance to do it to give it everything," said the 1.80-metre player from Metz in northeastern France.

"But as the years go by, rugby becomes a hard sport and I increasingly wonder if my generation can achieve such long careers as those of our seniors."

Parra added: "In ten years I don't know. Now I'm trying to do weight training, to bulk up but I'll never make it up to 100kg."

In the immediate future Parra is impatient to judge the progress of the team after a month of preparation.

"We've worked well but the moment of truth again will be on the pitch, we'll have to deliver at Twickenham and the Stade de France."

France will finalise their 31-man World Cup squad after the England games and ahead of their September 5 match against Scotland.

They open their World Cup Group D campaign on September 19 against Italy at Twickenham before they meet Romania at London's Olympic Park, Canada at Milton Keynes and Ireland in Cardiff.
Source: AFP