The Wallabies are bracing for a "vicious" encounter with France on Saturday night but remain confident of avoiding an All Blacks-style mugging from Les Bleus.

Wallabies No.8 Richard Brown believes the ferocious French forwards blindsided the All Blacks to set up a stirring 27-22 victory in the first of their two Tests in New Zealand this month.

World rugby's most enigmatic outfit almost repeated the dose in Wellington last Saturday before falling 14-10 to draw the series with the top-ranked All Blacks.

Brown on Thursday said the Wallabies were suitably alert to any potential ambush from the French at ANZ Stadium.

"Maybe the All Blacks didn't know what they were in for. Maybe they didn't expect their intensity, which I don't think anyone did really," Brown said on Thursday.

"But we can see that coming and we need to match it. I think it's an advantage if you can see your opponent before they come out against you.

"It doesn't mean you can predict what they're going to do, but you can be slightly more prepared."

The Wallabies are expecting the French forwards to hunt as a pack, setting the scene for a brutal battle at the breakdown.

"It's going to be a tough, tough game," Brown said. "Pretty vicious at the breakdown.

"They're an outstanding back row. They work together and don't just rely on one bloke to do all the hard yards.

"Watching their footage, their whole forward pack play really well together. They're not one-out individuals, they're a really tight unit and that always makes it a harder job; playing against a team that works together.

"But we had a good training session today. The intensity was right up there."

Brown is playing France for the first time and is demanding a higher work rate of himself after making a slower recovery from an ankle injury than he hoped for.

The energetic back-rower didn't run for more than a month before only resuming proper training a week before the season-opening international against the Barbarians.

"I can't say I've been overly happy with my last two performances. I should expect more of myself," he said.

"The coaches have been reasonably happy, but I think they'd like to see more out of me as well.

"But I want to do it for myself, personally. If I'm not happy with my game but my coaches are, I don't think that's a good enough reason to rest.

"I want to be happy within myself so that's my motivation."

Wallabies five-eighth Matt Giteau expressed surprise at some of the French team changes and was particularly shocked not to be opposing in-form flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc.

Instead Giteau will line up against Lionel Beauxis and said he planned to spend Thursday night studying footage of his little-known rival.

"So it's going to be a tricky side to prepare for," Giteau said.

"But we're under no illusions. We knew this game was always going to be tough.

"The selections certainly indicate they want to have a field-position focus.

"But that's the way we've been trying to play the first couple of games - have a strong focus on applying pressure and playing field position.

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