FRANCE ARE BACK, and rugby certainly feels the better for it.
Ahead of this evening’s meeting with Ireland in Paris, Fabien Galthié’s side are favourites to win the Six Nations and find themselves riding an all-too-rare wave of positive momentum. Sure, they may not have won anything yet, but all the signs suggest Les Bleus’ current form is not just some false dawn.
This youthful, exciting France team boast the usual powerful pack as well as a backline bursting with talent – including the current World Player of the Year – and are building nicely towards a World Cup on home soil next year. This is the strongest French squad in years and they are playing some of the best rugby around.
It hasn’t always been this way. France last won the Six Nations way back in 2010 – far too long a famine for a nation with such strong playing numbers and resources. Now it appears to be all smiles and forward thinking. The Top 14 is thriving and everybody from the top down in French rugby is working off the same hymn sheet again.
Crucially, the public are back onside, too, with French television recording record viewing figures for last weekend’s opening round win over Italy. Seven million people tuned in to watch Galthie’s side in a game nobody expected them to lose, knowing they’d be entertained. Those figures should rise again today.
Down in the south-west of the country, former Scotland international Johnnie Beattie says the feel-good factor is palpable. Beattie still lives in France having spent eight years of his pro career in the country – representing Montpellier, Castres and Bayonne – and is co-host of the excellent Le French Rugby Pod.
“Going back to my playing days and all the French internationals that I played with, the French national team under the previous coaching regimes was almost viewed as a poisoned chalice,” Beattie explains.
“You went away (to France camp), it was terribly coached, you were getting destroyed in the press, the French public were kind of embarrassed, so for players and the public it was awful. Whereas I think the wider rugby public historically look at France as this magical thing.
Now that magic and the myth is back, and therefore everybody is pumped, everyone is excited. It’s what everyone is talking about at the school gates when you’re dropping kids to school down, it’s all everyone wants to talk about because they are excited and that pride has kind of been restored.
“You can see it in things like viewing numbers for Canal+ and France tv, the public are tuning back in and watching. They’re getting record numbers after having about 10 years in the doldrums.”
Beattie has also noticed a different attitude in the current group of players.
“I caught up with Greg Alldritt and Antoine Dupont after the win against the All Blacks in Paris (last November), and just the pride that you can feel coming back from these guys and the fun you can see they are having on the pitch. You can see from the body language if players are enjoying it, and right now they are having the time of their lives, whereas for my generation, the guys who played over the past 10 years, it (France camp) was a difficult place to go.
“The French national team wasn’t regarded the same way, they were stuck out in Marcoussis which was horrible (in terms of atmosphere).
“Fabien Galthié has changed all that. They now stay in a hotel in the centre of Paris, they are part of the city, the training is much more fun, the performances are on another level and it’s just been restored as a sport in France, whereas it had kind of slipped for quite a while.”
With France back at their best and Ireland also making huge strides under Andy Farrell’s, today’s clash brings together two of the form teams in world rugby. Whoever comes out on top at the Stade de France will automatically be installed as favourites to win the tournament and complete the Grand Slam.
So, what’s the key to beating this French team?
“I would take them on at lineout time,” Beattie says.
“That will be a massive area that I know big Paulie (O’Connell) will have pored over in detail. Scotland have cruelly exposed them in that area the past two meetings.
“And if I was Ireland, typically I would be trying to play as little rugby in my third as possible. I think France have demonstrated that when they get hold of ball, because of the power and X-factor and handling ability they have, they can bust the line at will. It’s difficult to contain them, but it’s also about understanding that there are going to be long phases of possession with France on the ball.
“There will be times where you have to soak (up pressure), but you just can’t crack and concede.
I’d be trying to almost avoid the physical areas of confrontation. I’d be sticking the ball in the air, I’d be aiming for Damian Penaud, Gabin Villière and trying to win quick, 30-40 metre gains from box-kicking and from contestable kicks from 10 as opposed to trying to go through them.
“Ireland have been fantastic in the way they shift the point of contact and don’t allow you to set as a defensive line, and they’ll have to do that time and time again, because if you have one-on-one confrontations with Paul Willemse, (Uini) Atonio, (Julien) Marchand, you’re going to lose. So it’s how can get you these guys to shoot out the line, aim for that big hit and tip the ball on. Same with Anthony Jelonch, they are such phenomenal, big athletes that are now organised, determined and better than they have ever been defensively.
“And it’s a tired cliché, but there’s also the importance of starting well in Paris.
“Covid has heavily affected the Top 14, a lot of these guys are not as sharp as they should be. When you go to Stade de France… (look at) how they started against the All Blacks and how that got the crowd on their feet. That was probably one of the top three atmospheres I’ve ever been at. When you go and play against French sides, if the crowd gets on your back, they are better than any other crowd. So Ireland have to start well.”
France would be popular Six Nations champions with most neutral supporters, but there is also a feeling that we’ve been here before. Plenty of talented French teams have failed to deliver on their potential, and while this current group appear to be laying a strong foundation – such as that excellent win over the All Blacks in November – winning some silverware would be the strongest indication yet that this time, France mean business.
“Fabien Galthié came out pre-tournament and said this team is now ready to win something, and they haven’t been in any sort of position to win something since 2010, because the rugby has not been up to standards, they haven’t been well coached and they’ve been poorly organised,” Beattie continues.
“So despite the enormous pool of talent that they have, they’ve been nowhere near the contest. Now it’s wonderful that they are back at a level where they can compete, and it makes the Six Nations much more compelling and competitive. And it’s the same on the world stage – the Rugby World Cup (next year) will be better for having a French national team that is flying and consistent in their performance.
They obviously want to kick on and win something, they’ve got the easiest draw in the competition this season, they’ve got the World Player of the Year in their ranks, they’ve probably got the world’s best attack coach, they probably got the world’s best defence coach, and they are absolutely in a position to win something.
“We all know how cruel professional sport – and especially the fine margins of the Six Nations – can be. They could finish second, third and fourth for the next five years without winning something – you don’t know.
“But I think it would be wonderful for rugby fans in general to have a French rugby side back (competing) a year out from a World Cup, titling at winning a Six Nations championship.
“I think it’s what people have wanted for a long, long time.”
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Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella hit record for the second time in one day after news of Johnny Sexton’s injury, with Illtud Dafydd joining the lads on the line from Paris to give great insight into all things les Bleus.
