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'Is it a happy squad?': Making sense of what is going on with France
France may have come away with a win on Saturday against Scotland at Murrayfield, but so far this Guinness Six Nations they have been far from the side that the rugby world has grown accustomed to in recent years.
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A record loss to Ireland in round one was followed by a listless display in Edinburgh saved by a late moment of magic from Louis Bielle-Biarrey and and devilishly complex TMO call.
There is one obvious explanation for this slump from France, and that is Antoine Dupont’s absence this Championship while he focuses on sevens. Alongside Romain Ntamack’s long-term knee injury, as well as Anthony Jelonch’s (and now even Gregory Alldritt’s), Les Bleus have had the spine of their team ripped from them.
But their problems may lie deeper than that, as the Boks Office recently discussed on RugbyPass TV.
Former Springboks Hanyani Shimange and Jean de Villiers were joined by ex England prop Matt Stevens to go over the latest round of Six Nations rugby, including France’s current struggles. The former centre de Villiers feels they may be suffering a “hangover” from crashing out of their own World Cup at the quarter-final stage to his compatriots, while explaining the mental hammer-blow that would have been to the team.
Match Summary 
3
Penalty Goals
2
1
Tries
2
1
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
125
Carries
89
3
Line Breaks
3
12
Turnovers Lost
15
5
Turnovers Won
5
“They’re lacking confidence,” the 2007 World Cup winner said.
“A lot of people have said, it’s the hangover of the World Cup and the expectation of the World Cup, not being able to deliver on that. You kind of get the feeling that that’s what you’re seeing from that French team. Then you start asking these questions- is that really going on? Is it a happy squad? Can they recover?
“And maybe also understanding the mental side of what they went through- they were certain that they would win the World Cup. It definitely comes across that way. And the disappointment of that, the mental side of high-performance sport and the effect that it has when you don’t live up to the expectations.”
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Stevens, who spent the final year of his career in France playing for Toulon, added: “France, it’s an old cliche, but they’re a very emotive sporting country. Having played there, there’s a lot of passion and not a huge amount of strategy that goes into getting ready for a game.
“It’s like ‘this is our earth, this is what we’re going to protect, we’re going to go there and die for our country.’ Then they lose someone who was quite critical in Antoine Dupont. They’re a big talisman team, which I always think is a weakness for an international team, which is the opposite of Ireland who have got depth and experience across the pitch.”
Fabien Galthie’s side resume their Six Nations campaign next weekend against Italy in Lille before facing Wales in Cardiff and hosting England in Lyon in the final round.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
40 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
40 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to comments