2024-03-16 23:38:30
Winners of the XV de la Rose, 33-31, the Blues enjoy a flattering second place, behind Ireland, which removes the annoying questions at the end of a chaotic competition.
It was a year and six days ago, precisely. That evening, the England team was sinking, sinking so far into the abyss that the players on the pitch were living a waking nightmare the likes of which you rarely experience in a career. Defeated 53-10 on its legendary pitch at Twickenham, the XV de la Rose seemed faded like never before, conceding seven tries in the process, scored by an opponent, France in this case, who seemed to master their rugby with a ease so insolent that he was promised the moon.
We know the rest. Thanks to a World Cup without a hitch, finishing in a flattering third place, the Whites have regained color, the renewed vitality culminating in a recent victory snatched from Ireland, the overwhelming favorite of the Six Nations Tournament. As for the Blues, covered in bruises, they significantly lost their splendor, to the point of coming close to outright bankruptcy by miraculously escaping two defeats that they could have conceded against Scotland, then Italy, before finding a slightly forced smile against a Welsh team in distress.
Speed, audacity and tricolor solidarity
This preamble explains that the balance of power seemed to have changed significantly, this Saturday March 16 at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon-Décines, at the kick-off time of the 111th France-England in the history of rugby. A crunch at the conclusion of the 2024 edition of the Six Nations Tournament which, if not crowning the winner, would at least allow him to become the runner-up to Ireland which, at the end of the afternoon, had painfully consoled itself against Scotland, 17-13, winning the Tournament for the second year in a row, but without a Grand Slam because of its defeat a week earlier in England.
An indecision, on paper, which we thought dissipated throughout the first minute on the grass, before the trend reversed, to finally smile on France thanks to a final penalty from Ramos, on the halfway line. At 33-31, and even having planted “only” three tries, against four for the English, France won the right to take a lap of honor, finishing the Tournament in an advantageous second place, after having struggled during his five contested matches, sometimes losing miserably (against Ireland), sometimes winning painfully – a second scenario which, it will not have escaped rugby fans, is all the more delicious when the defeated party is England, forced to translate the famous “Sorry Good Game” into French.
A Rhone outcome, ultimately, which sums up well the current situation of the Blues, capable of big air gaps (three tries conceded in a few minutes, while they easily dominated their subject), as well as sequences full of panache where, added the time of dazzling sequences, the speed, audacity and tricolor solidarity remain able to break down all the barriers – and get the crowds on their feet. “We knew how to react in the important moments, even if everything was not perfect, but we scared ourselves,” admitted Thomas Ramos at the final whistle, on France 2, the Toulouse fly-half (usually at full-back ) condensing in itself the French talent and deficiencies, since signing eighteen points at the foot (including, therefore, the penalty of winning), all having played a culpable role in the gaps of a defensive system caught at fault for the second week in a row.
“Moments engraved forever”
Even if, immediately, it remains difficult to draw lasting lessons, we will also note that the last two French matches of the Tournament which, despite obvious imperfections, were also the most invigorating, corresponded to the integration a little “forced” by twenty-somethings who, at the start of the competition, did not fit with the coach’s strategic priority. Thus, among the young shoots who have managed to do well, we will have to remember the second good match in a row as holder of the Racing 92 scrum half, Nolann Le Garrec, as well as the good performance at the back of the Parisian, Léo Barré, rewarded with a first personal try, after having already signed a huge breakthrough which will also send Le Garrec on cloud nine. “Moments engraved forever”, will savor the Stade Français player who has therefore known how to embody this next generation on which – in addition to the returns of Antoine Dupont or Romain Ntamack – France will inevitably have to count, as the next deadline looms. world, in Australia, in 2027. Hoping of course that by then, the trophy cabinet will fill up a little because, if France has been in the first two places of the Tournament for five years, it does not have it for won as much as once (in 2022) since Fabien Galthié took the reins by immediately proclaiming (in 2019) the ambition to “win titles”.
“It’s not the end of the Tournament, but the beginning of something else,” concluded the coach, criticized since the World Cup made in France turned into a sausage, but which, thanks to of a European competition having squarely smiled on its troops in the many critical moments, where everything (or almost) was almost called into question, gained respite, in the absence of a new test.
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