A Love Letter To Baptiste Serin
The young French scrum-half made his Six Nations debut this weekend, immediately reaffirming everything Lee Calvert loves about French rugby.
France have a very special relationship with their scrum-halves. The only other nation that has come close to having such a relationship was Australia in the George Gregan years, and that was mainly because Gregan was the most French of non-French number nines.
Baptiste Serin could become the most French number nine ever, full stop. He showed in the defeat to England that the future is bright for those of us who like their rugby just a little bit on the insouciant and insane side.
What is it about those Gallic scrum-halves? While every other rugby nation lets the outside half run the show, this is traditionally far too dull for France. They base their game around their scrum half. The successful periods of French rugby history are littered with these petit generals, those mercurial talents who run the show from the base of the scrum – the likes of Philippe Carbonneau, Fabien Galthie, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Freddie Michalak and Morgan Parra.
At the same time the men in the ten shirt were utterly forgettable pivots and functional goalkickers: the likes of Thierry Lacroix, Christophe Lamaison and Lionel Beauxis. Told you they were forgettable. As coach, Phillipe Saint Andre tried to mess with this system by moving Freddie Michalak to 10 with comically disastrous consequences and proved without doubt that moving the erratic genius out one channel is folly for the French.
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Baptiste Serin, the latest man to inhabit the nine shirt, is 22 years old and plays his rugby for Bordeaux-Begles, the generally characterless club that are seemingly anchored to the middle section of the Top 14 for all eternity.
The man himself could not be more unlike his club: he is arrogant, languid, forceful, stroppy, charming and perhaps most importantly, a spectacularly talented rugby player.
After captaining France U20s, he stepped up to the seniors and showed flashes of his talent in France’s tour of Argentina last summer. He cemented his brilliance with his cameo appearance vs New Zealand in November with an outrageous out-the-back pass to Louis Picamoles for his side’s only try.
At Twickenham on Saturday he trotted onto the field all youthful confidence, willowy frame and quirky haircut and set about calling the tune for the whole time he was on the field. His service was quick and crisp, even when he had to get it away ugly, including using the dive pass (remember them?).
Too many nines seem to get obsessed with form and forget their real job is to get the ball away sharply. Serin doesn’t concern himself with the former and as a result the latter part of his game was outstanding, particularly in the first half. But he is more than simply getting the ball away. He also showed a wonderful awareness of space that is increasingly rare in modern scrum halves; he worked his team around the ruck and park magnificently with a maturity beyond his six caps.
Never once did he look intimidated by the Twickenham atmosphere, and reinforced this general lack of fear and giving a shit by starting not one but two fights. Two! Both with forwards! First he took on back row Tom Wood, a large but overly coiffured man; then he squared up to Dan Cole, a prop with a face so terrifying he looks like he had a paper round in Chernobyl. This second bit of Serin-prompted aggro was the exact point I lost all logical reason in my love for him.
There is much talk this year of the French getting some more France into their game. This was evident in a losing effort vs England and Serin was at the heart of it for the fifty-odd minutes he was amongst it.
The future of rugby the French way appears safe is his young, crafty, punch-happy hands.
Comments on RugbyPass
I hope Leinster’s proud of themselves fielding a poor team. They should decide if they’re all in or not.
1 Go to commentsJordie is looking at 16 games maximum if Leinster reach both the URC and champions cup finals. Thats not guaranteed. Some of those home URC fixtures will be cakewalks as well for Leinster and there is not much doing during the 6 nations in Feb and March so he can probably get a decent rest then. He will have to really put in it for maybe 7 or 8 games max. It should be a good move for both.
13 Go to commentsThe game was a quarter final, not a semi final. Barrett will be here for 6 months, he is no one's replacement at 13. That mantle will most likely ultimately go to Jamie Osborne, though Garry Ringrose has at least 4 more years in him. The long term problem position (in the next 3 years) for Leinster is tighthead prop, though there are a couple of prospects at schools level.
23 Go to commentsSo much for all that hype surrounding the ‘revival’ of Aussie rugby. The Blues were without the likes of regular starters Perofeta, Sullivan, Christie etc… This was a capitulation of the highest order by Australia’s finest. Joe Schmidt definitely has his work cut out for him.
2 Go to commentsYes they can ignore Sotutu. Like Akira Ioane plays OK at Super level but gets lost in tests. Too many chances too many failures.
2 Go to commentsA wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
13 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
13 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
6 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
25 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
6 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to comments