FRANCE CAPTAIN GREGORY Alldritt has challenged his “humiliated” side to seize the initiative against Scotland on Saturday after they started the Six Nations with a “car crash” loss at home to Ireland.
Pre-tournament title contenders France conceded five tries in a 38-17 defeat by reigning Six Nations Grand Slam champions Ireland in Marseille last week.
The result represented Les Bleus‘ second heaviest home loss in the tournament’s history, with France playing more than half the game a man down after lock Paul Willemse was sent off.
Alldritt, however, is determined France show their “true face” in Edinburgh against a Scotland side who ended their 22-year wait for a win in Cardiff with a 27-26 victory over Wales — but only after nearly squandering a 27-0 lead.
“The beginning of the week was tough for us,” Alldritt told a pre-match press conference at Murrayfield on Friday. “We have rarely been as humiliated as we were last week. We feel in our heart of hearts we have to produce a huge performance on Saturday.
“We are eager to be the ones who seize the initiative, to set the tone in attack, to defend as we did for the past four years and not like last Friday. To show our real face.”
- ‘Extra motivated’ -
World Cup hosts France pushed eventual champions South Africa hard before suffering an agonising 29-28 quarter-final defeat in October, with the 26-year-old Alldritt adding:
“We have not changed that much in two months. We just had a serious car crash last week. What makes one a great team is not to repeat the dire result from the week before… These are (perhaps) the easiest weeks to manage when one is captain. Not one player is happy, thus all of them have been extra motivated and put in a lot of work”.
France and Scotland met three times in 2023, France enjoying a 32-21 Six Nations win in Saint-Denis, with the spoils shared in two World Cup warm-up games.
“I have never had an easy match against the Scots,” said No 8 Alldritt. “It is always a huge battle. They are also a team that have X-factor players and who play with the ball in hand a lot.”
France have generally been tough to break down since defence guru Shaun Edwards joined coach Fabien Galthie’s backroom staff in November 2019.
But they have now conceded nine tries in their last two games, with the Springboks crossing their line four times.
Edwards did not take kindly to suggestions France had become an increasingly soft touch. Asked if he was angry, the English rugby league great replied: “I am normally angry when we lose.
“It means a lot to me and I know how much it means to the people of France, the France supporters.
“In the last four years we have a 75% win ratio, 80% sometimes. It (the Ireland game) is the only time I feel we did not perform anywhere near the level we normally do.”
