1
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November
By Finn Morton
Lock Emmanuel Meafou insists France have moved on from the heartbreak of last year’s Rugby World Cup exit as they set their sights on 2027. Les Bleus suffered a disappointing quarter-final exit, which brought an end to the nation’s hopes of World Cup glory on home soil.
ADVERTISEMENT
Before the sport’s showpiece event got underway in early September, France were widely considered one of the favourites to challenge for the top prize. Antoine Dupont led the charge as the team’s captain, with Les Bleus boasting world-class talent across the board.
France started their pursuit of the Webb Ellis Cup with a statement 27-13 win over New Zealand at Stade de France, which was the All Blacks’ first-ever loss in pool play. Les Bleus remained unbeaten until the quarter-finals where they were met by the colossus that is the Springboks.
Winger Cheslin Kolbe charged down a conversion attempt from Thomas Ramos’ which caught fans by surprise at the time, and has since turned into one of the more iconic moments from South Africa’s run to a second successive World Cup crown. They won that match 29-28.
It’s been about 13 months and one week since that all-time classic World Cup eliminator, and while history can’t be rewritten, France have taken the lessons and moved on. On Friday, France completed a clean sweep of wins in the Autumn Nations Series with a 27-13 win over Argentina.
“As a team, the inexperience that we’ve had and throughout this tournament being able to play the boys wherever they are and whatever position, and just being able to adapt from zero to 80 minutes,” Meafou said on the post-game broadcast.
“Credit to the staff and all the players but I think it’s a team effort and it’s showing. We’ve got three wins from three and we’ll continue to build that into Six Nations next year.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We’re over last World Cup and our sights are on the next World Cup,” he added.
“We’ve got our sights for that World Cup but it starts with these next few Tests in the Six Nations and we’ll take the three wins that we’ve had this November and we’ll celebrate that.”
France’s clinical win over Argentina follows their dominant win over Eddie Jones’ Japan and a nerve-wracking victory against Scott Robertson’s All Blacks. They’re three from three in November, which brings a supremely positive end to their international calendar year.
Antoine Dupont was once again among the standouts for Les Bleus as they shot out of the blocks with an early try to Thibaud Flament. Flyhalf Thomas Ramos was accurate off the kicking tee once again as the hosts took a 13-6 lead midway through the first term.
Right winger Gabin Villiere scored a five-pointer in the 32nd minute, and the man on the left edge Louis Bielle-Biarrey came within inches of scoring a couple of minutes later before a penalty try was awarded in France’s favour.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bielle-Biarrey would score later on in the match after showcasing his elite quickness with a grubber kick and chase in the 57th minute. France led 37-16, and while they didn’t score in the final quarter of play, their defence did enough to keep Los Pumas at bay.
“We knew it was going to be an 80-minute game,” Meafou reflected at the stage of the interview.
“We saw last week how they went full 80 with a solid Irish team so we knew it was going to be hard defensively and even in attack.
“We knew we’re gonna have to front up but we’re happy with the win and we’ll go enjoy a bit of time off before we head back to club rugby.”
Go behind the scenes of both camps during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021. Binge watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV now
I thought Argentina were unlucky with Luke Pearce's decision for the penalty try. Clearly the ball did travel toward the Argentina try line after it was flapped at by the Argentine player although his hand motion was going the other way. Thus the result was that he slowed it down rather than deliberately knocked it on whatever his actual intention was. Playing with 14 for 20 minutes in the first half was too big a handicap.
to help the referee's decision, it seems he also deliberately push the ball directly in touch. But already the first yellow card and some penalties showed a lack of discipline.
France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.
NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.
With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.
That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.
Yeah, nah. The pain doesn't go away that quick, I'm afraid. It just goes from acute to a dull ache, with the endless flashback dark moments that come & go, until you finally win.