Wales-France (24-45): after their victory can the Blues still win the Six Nations Tournament?

2024-03-10 18:46:40

The Blues are back. After a failed start to the 2024 Six Nations Tournament, Fabien Galthié’s men recovered this Sunday in Cardiff. And what a way! Despite a rejuvenated team, the Tricolores had an exciting match against the XV du Poireau, winning by more than twenty points (24-45). A necessary success to move up the rankings. The French now occupy fourth place with 11 points, tied with Scotland, and a little behind England… who France will challenge on Saturday March 16 (9 p.m.) for a boiling Crunch.

• The ranking after the 4th day:

1/ Ireland: 16 points (+80)

2/ England: 12 points (-3)

3/ Scotland: 11 points (+4)

4/ France : 11 points (+4)

5/ Italy: 7 points (-37)

6/ Wales: 3 points (-48)

But is this victory enough to keep the France group’s chances of winning the title alive? The answer is yes… but. Grégory Alldritt and his team, defeated against Ireland (17-38), miraculous in Scotland (16-20) and hanging on against Italy (13-13), had seriously jeopardized their title chances after the first three days . Especially since at the same time, the three improved victories won by the XV du Trèfle seemed to kill any suspense for the rest of this 2024 version of the Tournament.

This was without counting on the great success achieved by England against Ireland (23-22) on Saturday which slightly reshuffled the cards, allowing the French to stay alive for the final victory.

The title remains improbable

To do this, they will need to achieve, against England, an offensive performance similar to that achieved on the pitch at the Principality Stadium and achieve another improved victory. However, this will not be enough since the Blues will also have to hope that the Irish lose without bonus – and by a wide margin – against Scotland on Saturday March 16 and that the XV du Chardon wins a “simple” victory. In this scenario, the French and Irish would find themselves tied with 16 points, just ahead of Scotland at 15 points.

But even if the planets align in this way, a French success in the Tournament would still remain highly improbable because the general difference in points would be taken into account to decide between the two teams. At the end of the 4th day, Ireland is at +80, France at +4. It would therefore be necessary for the Blues to inflict a historic blow on their English rival and for the Irish to collapse against Scotland to have any hope of winning. ‘take away.