2023-09-16 01:32:41
Of all the dark spots of this very messy evening, he is by far the main one. The XV of France has reconnected with old demons that it is trying to chase away as best it can under the mandate of Fabien Galthié. A poorly named indiscipline which stood out to the most lay viewer of this meeting won by the Blues (27-13) Thursday evening against Uruguay.
In all, the tricolors finished with fifteen faults, in the same waters as the South Americans, but in contrast to their performance (27-13) against the All Blacks on Friday, where they had only been sanctioned four times. . To summarize, it’s way, way too much for a team of this level. “Yeah, it’s huge,” admitted second row Cameron Woki on TF1. It is even unacceptable at the international level. It’s fortunate to have won this match with 15 penalties. »
In Villeneuve-d’Ascq, we saw mistakes everywhere, from scrums to rucks, and almost all the time. Four tricolors (Jaminet, Villière, Aldegheri, Macalou) were sanctioned twice, and the second row Romain Taofifenua received a yellow card in the first period which still had a lot of things to turn into red, even if he finally benefited from the clemency of the “bunker”. A very difficult evening that everyone tried to explain in their own way.
“At 15 faults, you don’t move up to the international level”
“Indiscipline is linked to the lack of realism,” estimates third row François Cros. Not being able to score in our highlights frustrated us a little, and when you’re frustrated, you’re more likely to make mistakes. These are details that should not be overlooked, because with 15 faults you do not progress to the international level. »
“There was a lack of lucidity,” says pillar Sipili Falatea. There was too much energy, too much desire. There were times when we wanted to overplay or play alone. And we forgot the collective. »
Others, like Reda Wardi or Paul Boudehent, encouraged followers to look at the rucks, where “their desire surprised us”, says the third line of the Blues. “We made 15 mistakes, we wanted to make four, in these waters,” he continues. This is way too much, we’re going to work on it. »
Better, but still air holes
The relapse raises questions, especially since the Blues have emphasized this point by enlisting in their staff in 2021 the former referee Jérôme Garcès, whistle of the 2019 World Cup final. If the average of penalties whistled against the tricolors had gone from 11.8 to 10.1 before this meeting since his arrival, the Blues still have gaps in this area. Like in February in Italy (18 fouls) or during the first preparation match in Scotland, where the referee whistled 14 times against them.
“I thought we had done a lot of work on that, but today we were really undisciplined and it’s a real shame,” laments Woki. And now what to do? All the players who paraded oscillated between being content to keep in the back of their minds what Cros presents as “a no-cost warning” or the need to debrief cold later.
They now have a week, before the third match against Namibia, to focus on doing better. But not the entire World Cup to return to their standards of the first match.
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