As a rejuvenated France take on Scotland at Murrayfield tomorrow afternoon for top spot in Group B of the bedevilled Autumn Nations Cup, they do so with the full backing of their president, Bernard Laporte, who believes that “a sense of hope and possibility” has been restored to French rugby by the exploits of the new generation. France have grown in stature since Laporte brought in Fabien Galthie and Raphael Ibanez last year to overhaul a national team who have been in the wilderness for a decade, without a championship title since 2010. Even if Laporte is the first to acknowledge that “these are early days and we must be humble”, the former head coach and trophy-garnering ex-manager at Toulon as well as France minister for sport insists that the days of not knowing what sort of French team would turn up on any given day are behind Les Bleus. “Yes, let us hope we have laid that cliche to rest,” Laporte told The Telegraph. “The last 10 years has not been good enough for French rugby. We have had too many foreigners in the game, our players in general have not been fit enough, the coaching support staff for Les Bleus was too threadbare, our style has been random and confused, our young players were not getting enough opportunity to prosper – there were a lot of issues there. “We believe now that we have made a start in resolving things, to give us some hope for the future, an air of positivity and of possibility. “The national team are the shop window, or the locomotive if you like, the engine that drives so much, that pulls everything along behind. We have to rise again. It is not right to say that we will win the World Cup in 2023.